


12 Days on Hoth

by FlyRobinFly



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Anal Sex, Angst, Blood, Bottom Poe Dameron, Concussions, Crash Landing, Cute, Fever, Fever Dreams, Finn is a Good Guy (Star Wars), Flirting, Fluff, Force-Sensitive Finn (Star Wars), Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Huddling For Warmth, Injury, Jealous Poe Dameron, Kinda, Kissing, M/M, Planet Hoth (Star Wars), Poe Dameron Hurts So Prettily, Sharing a Bed, Sharing a Room, Slow Burn, Smut, Survival, Top Finn (Star Wars), Vomiting, Wilderness Survival, don't worry it's not as angsty as it sounds, showering together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:34:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 44,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28199229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlyRobinFly/pseuds/FlyRobinFly
Summary: He felt a hand on his, over the controls. It was warm and comforting. Finn was always so warm. Poe beat himself up. What was he doing? He was about to die. He had to tell him. “Finn…”Finn looked at Poe expectantly. Poe took his eyes off of the fog before him and directed them at Finn. What a sight for sore eyes, for fearful hearts, for last breaths.Out of the corner of his eye, he saw some darkness approaching them. He tried to angle the ship to the right to avoid hitting it but a painful shrieking sound pierced their ears as it gashed into the side of the ship.There was more jerking and scraping as the ship continued to barrel through the fog, through the mountainscape of Hoth.Then it went black.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Finn
Comments: 78
Kudos: 112





	1. Day One - Crashlanding

**Author's Note:**

> A mission goes south...

“Think we’ll find them this time?” Poe asked. Traveling through hyperspace in a small freighter just big enough for himself, Finn, and some cargo, Poe’s hope was diminishing. But he was determined to find those missing children before what was left of the First Order turned them into weapons.

Finn and Poe knew that the Battle of Exegol would not be their last. But they also knew it was the end of most of the evil that was out there. With the First Order as damaged as it was, there was less of an impending doom. Instead, there were pesky devils returning at the most inconvenient of times.

The Generals only had a day before they were already sending out Resistance troops to clean up the messes that the First Order left around the galaxy. And while certain members helped with the cleanup, Finn and Poe were helping Jannah with other matters regarding the retrieval of children that were kidnapped for the First Order by a people-trafficking criminal organization.

So far, they’d found no children. Every time they turned a corner expecting to find them, all they would find was another lead. The most recent, and hopefully last, lead would send them in two separate directions of the galaxy. The Generals would make their journey to the outer rim. Jannah and her crew are going to the core.

“I hope so.” Deep down, Finn felt as though something was off. As soon as he left with Poe on that small, worn down freighter, something went cold. He’d tried to pass it off as the freighter being old. It was possible that life-support wasn’t running at peak performance. He told himself that that could be the reason he felt so cold. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something else going on.

Poe sighed and Finn turned his head to find the General slumped in the pilot’s seat, closing his eyes for a moment. Finn could not remember the last time he’d seen the man eat a full meal or sleep through the night. Poe had never been the type to give himself a moment to catch his breath. And becoming the General increased his workload tenfold.

“You should rest, Poe,” Finn said, leaning down to rest both of his elbows on his knees and look up at Poe’s hidden face. His eyes were darker than they had been those long nights after The Battle of Crait when nightmares that brought guilt and fear kept him from sleeping. At least he’d eaten back then. “I’ll be the pilot for a little while.”

Poe rested his head back against the headrest of the seat. He sighed, shaking his head. “I can’t.”

“You will,” Finn said more firmly than he had before. Leia was gone now. Someone needed to be firm with Poe. Poe needed a solid ground to gravitate around, even if he was always flying in the line of fire. Finn knew he could be that person for Poe. He felt that’s why Poe asked him to be a General with him.

Poe opened his eyes, looking at Finn with eyes so tired that they were glossy and red. The man needed to sleep. The man needed to eat. He knew there was no point in arguing with Finn. He’d gone down that flight path before and Poe was too tired to brave that gravity well again. “Fine,” Poe said. He sat forward and flipped a few switches, giving the control to his copilot.

“You need to eat,” Finn told Poe firmly. He reached into his pocket and handed Poe a small ration, something he knew Poe would eat. For someone who found himself in so many survival situations, there were few things he was willing to eat to survive. He maintained eye contact with the pilot until Poe took the ration and thanked Finn. Though it didn’t seem very enthusiastic or sincere, Finn accepted it. Everyone was expecting a lot from Poe lately. Finn could cut him some slack.

Finn shifted his seat and took hold of the controls, guiding the freighter through hyperspace. He knew he wasn’t much of a pilot. Certainly nowhere near the capability of Poe Dameron. But he could hold his own in a firefight.

The sound of Poe’s crunching was muted by the wiring, rushing sound of the freighter moving through hyperspace. The bright, blue flashes were a familiar form of hypnosis that lulled Poe into a state of oblivion. He thoughtlessly ate one small food pellet at a time as he stared out the front canopy of the ship, time becoming irrelevant.

_ BEEP BEEP BEEP _

Finn glanced down at the screen on the control panel. A blinking red dot appeared to be following them. In hyperspace. Not good. Finn glanced at Poe, finding him still in a blank, mindless state. He was sure that was some kind of rest. Sleeping with his eyes open maybe?

_ BEEP BEEP BEEP _

But the beeping was not phasing him one bit.

_ BEEP BEEP BEEP _

“Poe,” Finn said, trying not to sound as panicked as he felt.

“Hm.”

“We’re being followed,” Finn said, eyeing that red blip on the screen.

Finally, Poe noticed the beeping and the red dot on the screen. They shared a look. If someone was following them, they knew where they were going and what they were after. Suddenly Poe sat up, immediately flipping a series of switches, the small pack of rations conveniently forgotten. “Com Jannah. Tell her we-”

The ship suddenly shook as it took a blast. And just like that, there was that adrenaline again. It chased Finn and Poe wherever they went. One adrenaline-filled adventure after the next with barely a moment between to catch their breath.

Finn threw on a headset and turned a few nobs, punching in a frequency to contact Jannah while Poe ran a diagnostic on the ship, preparing to perform evasive maneuvers. Finn was met with a horrible screeching noise on the other end of the com. He cringed and pulled it off of his ears. “Ah. They’re feeding back our own frequency,” he told Poe.

Poe opened his mouth to reply when the ship was hit with another blast and they both jerked forward in their seats. “Keep trying,” Poe said, reaching above his head to press a few more buttons. One of which kept shutting back off. “Shit,” Poe cursed. “They hit our navigator. We’re gonna have to enter real space.”

“Lucky shot,” Finn remarked, holding only one side of the headset to his ear this time as he kept trying to punch through whatever they had blocking their frequency.

“Let’s hope you have as much luck breaking through that frequency,” Poe commented, maneuvering the ship far to the right on a hyperspace curve to evade more incoming shots. He glanced over at Finn seeing as he flipped through various com channels with no luck. It would take more than finding the right channel. “Take the controls for a moment,” Poe said, as the weapons system finally chimed at them to inform them it was ready. “And fire back,” Poe said, a determined smirk on his face. For a former stormtrooper, Finn was an incredible shot.

Finn did what Poe said but not without scoffing. “And what do you think you can do that I-” Finn closed his mouth in shock as he took a sharper turn than he was anticipating. Once the ship straightened out, he aimed the weapons’ system at their tail and fired. He kept glancing down at the little blip on the screen, hoping and praying to the force that it would explode and disappear. A small bleep of encouragement sounded when he got one successful hit on the tailing ship. “Yes! Got one hit!” Finn exclaimed.

As if Finn saying the words out loud had caused it to happen, the ship immediately groaned as it took another pelting of fire. It pitched Poe forward into the panel that he was crouched down and dismantling. His forehead smacked against it with a noticeable thud. “Ow,” he complained, turning to Finn to scold him. “That’s great but can you maybe try not to get hit so much?”

“Sorry,” Finn apologized, turning his focus back to evading the blows of the ship behind them. He glanced down at Poe not able to help his curiosity. “What are you doing?”

“What do you think I’m doing? I’m rigging a frequency blocker to block the frequency that’s blocking our communications!”

“Where did you learn to do that?” Finn asked, amazed that Poe just knew how to do so much.

Poe scoffed and looked at Finn in disbelief. “Really? You want to go there again? What? You think everything I know how to do I learned from some criminal or something?”

“No!” Finn said, furrowing his brows. “That’s not what I said!”

“Right! Here I am doing something ‘shifty’ again!” The ship lurched forward and Poe’s head nearly got smacked again, his hair tangling with a bunch of wires that were dangling from the panel. He glared up at Finn. “Will you just focus on flying, dammit?!”

Finn scoffed and shook his head, turning his attention to flying again. “Unbelievable,” he muttered under his breath. “Rey was right, ya know? You are a difficult man.”

Poe ignored Finn, finishing up the device he’d been rigging and pointing it in the direction of the ship behind him. He flicked up some switch and moved to get out from under the panel, only for his hair to get snagged on the wires. “Aaaah.” Poe batted at the wires tangling with his curls. He squinted and looked crosseyed up at the piece of hair that had been caught, focusing intently on removing it when the ship lurched again. “Ow!” he groaned when his head slammed against the panel.

“Sorry!” Finn apologized, sounding panicked as he frantically tried to evade their tail.

Poe held his head and tried to move out from under the panel again. It appeared that his hair had been freed when he was thrown forward into the panel. Poe quickly stood up and sat back in the pilot’s seat, flipping the flight control back to himself. “The frequency shouldn’t be blocked anymore. Try to com Jannah again!”

Finn bent down to grad the headset again, starting to punch in her frequency only for the ship to close in on them from behind. He dropped the headset to fire at them. When he wasn’t busy piloting, he was a much better shot. Whether it was Poe or Rey flying while he was behind the trigger, they were unstoppable. Just as long as Poe and Rey weren’t both trying to fly at the same time. They fought over the controls like little kids fighting over their favorite doll.

Finn had a series of successful blasts to the ship behind them. Both of the Generals laughed and hollered in excitement. “Nice shot, General!”

“Nice piloting, flyboy,” Finn said back. Once it appeared that their tail was clear at least for the time being, Finn grabbed up the headset and held it to his ear again, punching in Jannah’s frequency again. “Foxtail, this is Starbird. Do you copy? Foxtail, this is Starbird and Sunshine. Do you copy?”

Poe rolled his eyes. “I did not agree to that codename,” Poe said.

“Foxtail, do you-”

“ _ This is Foxtail. I copy _ ,” Jannah’s familiar voice rang in Finn’s ear. Finn felt a surge of relief flood through him. “ _ Starbird, are you alright? _ ”

“We have a serpent,” Finn said. Poe rolled his eyes again. They’d come up with all these codewords. ‘Serpent’ meant they’d been compromised. Poe wasn’t sure why they’d felt the need to come up with new code words when plenty of codewords already existed that most of the Resistance was familiar with.

“ _ Where can I pick up the serpent? _ ” she asked.

“Uh…” They hadn’t come up with a code for ‘our navigation system is down and we have no idea where we’ll enter realspace. “...our map is broken.”

“ _ Finn! How am I supposed to work with that?! _ ” she said, already breaking whatever code they’d come up with. “ _ What do you mean, your navigation system is down?! _ ”

“Uh…” Finn hesitated and looked at Poe. “I don’t know what to tell her. Where are we?”

Poe snatched the headset and spoke into the audio piece. “Somewhere on the Corellian Trade Spine passed Indellian!”

BEEP BEEP BEEP

Poe’s eyes shot up to see a blinking red light, never a good sign. “Uh oh,” Poe said vaguely, not giving his copilot any further explanation.

“What ‘uh oh’?” Finn asked, eyes wide and looking at Poe.

“Strap in and hold on!” Poe shouted. Finn didn’t argue with Poe on that one. If Poe Dameron was telling him to strap in, it meant something was truly about to go wrong. “Hyperspeed systems are failing. We’re about to be thrown into real space,” Poe explained.

Finn strapped himself in and grabbed the headset off of the console to see if Jannah was still there but, just like Poe had warned him, the ship was lurched from hyperspace and tumbled violently into realspace. The headset had fallen out of his grasp and was lost in the spinning commotion as the ship spun out of control.

Finn looked to his left to check on Poe, to see him desperately gripping onto the pilot’s seat. Apparently, he’d neglected to take his own advice and strap in. The event of being thrown into realspace sent him spinning just like the ship. “Dammit, Poe!” Finn cursed, twisting in his seat to reach out for Poe’s hand. “I thought you said to strap in?!”

Poe strained to grab Finn’s hand as the ship spun out of control but Finn stretched just a little bit more and grabbed on to him, pulling him towards his seat. Poe held on to the back of both sides of Finn’s chair, burying his face in Finn’s lap until the spinning stopped.

After over a minute of spinning, the ship finally slowed to a stop. Poe looked up at Finn, panting and squinting as his head continued to spin. “Are we still spinning?” he asked.

Finn let out a cry of laughter. “I have no idea.”

Poe huffed, almost laughing but the nausea of spinning through space for over a minute was more than he could handle. “Ugh. I feel sick,” he complained, moving to get up and find his way back to his seat.

“You kriffing idiot, Poe,” Finn scolded him, shaking his head at Poe as the dizzy pilot braced himself on the back of his chair. “Why didn’t you have your strap on? You could have been killed.”

Poe had his back to Finn, trying to force the wave of nausea that was crashing over him to pass without knocking him down. His head was pounding violently. He definitely had at least a minor concussion from that. He didn’t know-how.

“Don’t ignore me like that, Poe Dameron,” Finn said. “And don’t you dare complain about feeling sick or having a headache after that. You’re the one who didn’t put on a strap.”

Finn’s words weren’t helping with the headache or the nausea. Before Poe could do anything about it, he heaved. Poe couldn’t remember the last time he’d gotten sick from flying. He thought maybe back at the flight academy? That was a long time ago.

“Poe, are you okay?” Finn asked, concern evident in the tone of his voice. It was strange how Finn could do that: go from scolding Poe so harshly to fawning over him in concern.

Poe turned around, face contorted into one of discomfort as he sat in the pilot’s seat. He took a deep breath and sighed when he looked at Finn. “Probably should have strapped in,” he admitted.

“Yeah,” Finn agreed, assuming that meant Poe was alright. Poe admitting he was wrong was a bit concerning though.

Poe ran a diagnostic on the ship again, so many components failing miserably. “We’re going to have to find somewhere to land,” Poe said. He did a double-take at the diagnostic results. “Sorry. Somewhere to crashland. Landing gear is shot. Hyperdrive is shot. Everything is shot. Dammit.”

“If we’re going to crashland, there’s no one I’d rather be at the controls,” Finn said. No one was better at crash-landing a ship than Poe. Finn had been in the hands of Poe’s piloting skills countless times in circumstances when crash-landing was the only option. As far as crash-landing went, Poe was the best at keeping his passengers alive and well.

“I appreciate the vote of confidence, pal, but this one will not be pretty,” Poe said, maneuvering the ship around to reveal a big white orb. “The closest planet is Hoth. Hope you don’t mind cold weather.”

Finn observed the giant white orb before him. A splotchy, blue, pale trip around the equator of the planet. He hoped Poe would land them somewhere near there, near warmth and possibly water. “I hate the cold.”

Poe adjusted the trajectory of the ship so that they were going around the lighter side of the planet, to the dark where it would be cold. “I know of an abandoned outpost here that we should be able to take shelter in if we land near it.”

“Is there any place on Hoth that isn’t abandoned?” Finn asked. “Ya know, where we could ask someone for help?”

Poe shook his head. “All outposts on Hoth belonged to the Rebellion. Shortly after the first Civil War, it was mostly abandoned.”

“Mostly,” Finn said. “So someone could still be there?”

“Just trust me, Finn,” Poe said. “Where I’m taking us is the most recently abandoned place on Hoth and our best bet at sending out a call for help.”

“I do trust you,” Finn swore. Of course, he trusted Poe. He trusted Poe more than anyone. He just wished Poe would understand that. And that Poe would take his own advice and strap in this time. “You better strap in,” Finn warned Poe.

Poe looked down at his lap, taking a moment to fasten his strap loosely before returning his attention to maneuvering the shuttering ship into the atmosphere. “Heat shields are failing,” Poe said. “It’s going to get real hot before it gets cold again.”

Poe was right. It did get warm as they entered the planet’s atmosphere. Finn thought that it felt nice. At least, he could enjoy that before they crashed. Finn heard a terrifying noise come from the back of the ship though and turned to look at Poe in horror. “What was that?”

Poe shrugged nonchalantly. “Oh. Ya know, just the entire hyperdrive falling off of the ship.”

Finn’s eyes widened. “Is that bad?”

“Could be worse. We could lose a wing.” Poe cleared his throat and looked at Finn in shock. “We’re about to lose a wing.”

“Oh no,” Finn said, his stomach dropping. The ship continued to creak as gravity pulled on it.

“It’s okay,” Poe said, flipping a bunch of switches that appeared to do absolutely nothing. “I can work with this. I can work with one wing. I can work with  _ no  _ wings.”

“Are you sure about that?” Finn asked.

“Please don’t make me answer that question right now,” Poe pleaded.

That  _ really  _ boosted Finn’s confidence in Poe. He wished he hadn’t asked. Then he could live in the false delusion that Poe could land any crash-landing ship. Finn held on as the ship shook even more from the gravitational pull. He could see the white ground approaching extremely fast. This was going to be a rough landing.

Poe pulled up on the controls as they approached the ground. He knew they weren’t close enough to the outpost yet. He had to get them a little closer, as close as he could.

Ahead of them, there was a wall of thick clouds. “Low visibility,” Poe said, tensing up at the gamble. He prayed to the force that there were no unexpected landmasses in that fog. He didn’t have much of a choice to do anything but fly right into it.

“Poe?”

“This was the best I could do,” he told Finn. He felt his heart drop to his stomach, panic settling in for the first time since the Battle of Exegol. They were about to die and it was Poe’s fault. He wasn’t good enough. He never was. He wasn’t strong enough - never strong enough to tell Finn how he  _ really  _ felt, what he  _ really  _ wanted. Poe Dameron: brave enough to crashland a ship 9 times out of 10 but too cowardly to tell the man he loves how he feels even when he thought he might die.

He felt a hand on his, over the controls. It was warm and comforting. Finn was always so warm. Poe beat himself up. What was he doing? He was about to die. He had to tell him. “Finn…”

Finn looked at Poe expectantly. Poe took his eyes off of the fog before him and directed them at Finn. What a sight for sore eyes, for fearful hearts, for last breaths.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw some darkness approaching them. He tried to angle the ship to the right to avoid hitting it but a painful shrieking sound pierced their ears as it gashed into the side of the ship.

There was more jerking and scraping as the ship continued to barrel through the fog, through the mountainscape of Hoth.

Then it went black.

**❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅**

Cold.

Finn woke to the feeling of a freezing gust burning his face. Finn hated the cold. He slowly opened his eyes, taking inventory of his surroundings, recalling what had brought him to this moment.

They crash-landed.

Finn looked down at his hand, his legs, making sure they were there. He wished there was a mirror for him to make sure his head hadn’t fallen off. His neck felt like it had been entirely detached and then put back into place carelessly.

Finn turned his head to the side, feeling a bit of tension. He was looking for Poe but the seat was empty. Finn squinted in confusion, blinking back at the dry, cold air. “Poe?” he called, voice tense and quiet. Finn noticed the strap that had fastened Poe to his seat had ripped. Finn frantically searched the inside of the ship for any sign of Poe.

Finally, his eyes spotted the shattered pieces of transparisteel leading to the front canopy. It was entirely shattered. There were small splatters of blood on the nose of the ship. “Poe,” Finn said again, this time voice loud with panic as he struggled to unfasten his strap. He climbed out the broken canopy hatch and looked off of the nose of the ship. Finn scanned the area frantically looking for Poe.

The first thing Finn saw was bright red contrasting in the cool white of the snow. “Poe!” he shouted, jumping down from the nose of the ship and following the trail of blood to the side of the ship where a body lay limp and lifeless.

Finn slid on his knees next to Poe’s body, grabbing his face and giving it a gentle shake. “Poe,” he said, patting his cheek. “Poe, can you hear me? Are you awake?” Finn felt a shiver rack through his body at the thought that Poe might not even be alive. He pressed two fingers to the pulse point on Poe’s neck, hopeful when he felt warmth, relieved when he felt a pulse. “You’re alive.”

Finn leaned over Poe, resting his forehead on his chest as he caught his breath. Poe was alive. They were both alive. Finn laughed in relief and looked at Poe’s unconscious face. “You did it again, Poe. You kept us alive.” Finn ran his fingers through Poe’s hair, not expecting to feel a warm wetness seeping from his skull. Poe was bleeding from his head. Finn frowned at his hand and told Poe, “I guess it’s my turn to return the favor, huh?”

Before moving Poe to a more sheltered area, he double-checked to make sure his neck hadn’t been broken. He checked his arms and legs too. It appeared Poe’s noggin had taken the brunt of the blow. Finn moved Poe to a spot underneath the wing of the ship. It was near the hull where the engine had once been burning, offering a warmer shelter for the time being.

Finn tried to find an easier way into the ship but it appeared the easiest way was to use the wing as a ramp and go back in through the broken canopy. Finn grabbed whatever emergency supplies he could find including the rations they’d brought with them, the back of Poe’s seat, and a standard emergency kit.

In the emergency kit, Finn found a fire starter kit which he used to set fire to the seat under the wing of the ship. Finn warmed himself up until he was no longer shivering and could use the medpac to clean up Poe’s head safely.

Finn wrapped Poe up in an emergency blanket and propped his head up in his lap while he examined and cleaned the wounded on his head. He was losing a lot of blood. It scared Finn. But he wrapped up his wound with a bacta patch and leaned against the hull of the ship, a blanket wrapped around himself as well.

Finn hated the cold.


	2. Day Two - Concussion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poe is concussed and everything lies on Finn...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for checking out the second chapter! Hope you enjoy it!

Finn barely slept through the night. The cold was too bitter and harsh. And, at one point, the seatback he’d set fire to had been completely burnt to a crisp. He had to go back into the ship to retrieve the other seatback, scouring the ship over once more to look for anything else he could use to keep warm.

When he returned, Poe was still unconscious. Finn checked. He checked regularly for a pulse, peeling open those eyes to look for a response. Poe was still asleep. It worried Finn immensely that Poe hadn’t even so much as moved a muscle or twitched. Finn worried if Poe ever would again.

As much as Finn wanted to monitor Poe’s vitals every second, he needed to figure out where they had landed. Had they even made it anywhere near the outpost Poe had mentioned? Or any outpost? Finn had to check their com to see if any of it was salvageable.

Finn anchored his blanket over the wing of the ship, sheltering Poe and the fire just a little more. He looked at Poe one last time, praying to the Force that he’d wake up soon… that he’d wake up at all. Then he climbed back into the ship, letting out a heavy sigh as he looked at that broken strap that was supposed to hold Poe in. He grabbed it, ripped it the rest of the way off of the seat, and fastened it to his belt. If it couldn’t do its job right, maybe it would serve another purpose to him.

Finn got down on his knees near the front panel of the ship, grunting in discomfort when he felt pressure on his chest and a pain in his neck. Finn put a cold hand up to the back of his neck and massaged it, craning it back and forth to test his range of movement. He would be hurting for a few days, that was for sure.

He sighed and turned his attention back to the panel, breaking the cover underneath free and tossing it aside. “Let’s see what we’ve got to communicate with,” he said to himself, trying to angle his tight, sore neck to look up at the undercarriage of the com system. Nothing but burnt out wires and shattered circuit boards. Except for one. Finn reached in and grabbed it. “That looks promising.”

Finn spent a good hour removing whatever was left of the com system before he moved on to something else. He experimentally flipped switches and tested every system he could to see if anything was operational. He messed with the nav computer for a minute, checking to see if he could pinpoint their location.

_...calibrating...calibrating...calibrating… _

That also looked promising. So Finn worked on that next, removing the entire computer from its shell. But there was still the power cell. He’d have to get that too. Finn stood up from his uncomfortable spot under the control panel and felt a rush of dizziness pass over him. He supposed he should probably eat something. Or drink some water. Both probably.

Finn grabbed what he could from the com system and climbed back out of the cabin of the ship. He slid down the wing on his side and landed swiftly on the ground before ducking underneath to enter his makeshift shelter. The seat was still burning, creating a generous amount of heat. And the blanket he’d draped over the side of the wing helped create a barrier for it.

Finn adjusted the blanket like a curtain, blocking even more of the cold out so he could warm up while he ate. He grabbed a small ration and unwrapped it. It was cold, crusty, and hard. But it was food none the less so he ate it.

Finn had found a small, malleable piece of shrapnel from the ship and formed it into something that would hold liquid. He filled it with snow and stuck it over the fire to melt and hopefully boil. He hoped whatever metal that was that it wasn’t toxic.

Finn didn’t know how long it was that he sat in there, slowly savoring that bland ration and waiting for the water to boil. But he burnt his fingers taking it off of the fire. As soon as it was warm enough, he stuffed more snow in it to repeat the process. He’d have to look for something to store water.

“Rrrr…”

Finn heard a low grumble from inside the shelter. He immediately jerked his head towards Poe. He wasn’t sure if he was imagining things or if Poe had  _ really  _ said something. Was he awake?

An unmistakable whimper sounded from Poe’s corner of the shelter. “Finn,” the other man croaked and Finn scurried to his side without missing a beat.

“Poe! You’re awake!” Finn put a hand on the side of Poe’s face. His face was so cold. He kept it there, brushing his warm, slightly burnt fingers across his skin to comfort him. “Hey,” he said softly. “Can you open your eyes?”

Poe whimpered again, tilting his head to the side and grunting in pain. “Ah,” he cried out, beginning to squirm under his blanket. He gasped and winced, trying to open his eyes. “Finn.”

“I’m right here,” he told Poe. He hoped Poe could hear him. He hoped Poe could hear. “Can you hear me?”

“So cold,” Poe said through grit teeth. “Hurts.”

“I know,” Finn said. “We were crash-landing on Hoth. Remember?” Immediately Poe burst into tears as if the memory hurt too much. “It’s okay, Poe. We’re okay. You hit your head pretty hard but we’re both okay.” Finn kept his hand on Poe’s face, trying to calm him with that warmth, that touch.

Poe tilted his head towards Finn. “Ah,” he grunted. He blinked up at Finn, tears spilling from his face. “Finn, I’m sorry. I-I shoulda done better-”

“Poe, listen to me,” Finn said, grabbing Poe’s face with both his hands, brushing back those icy tears to look deep into Poe’s eyes. “You did good. You did better than anyone else could have. We’re both alive. You did it again.”

Poe’s body shook with another sob, something between a sob and shiver. “Only to freeze to death.”

“We’re not going to freeze to death,” Finn said. “Once you’re well enough, and once I have everything we might need packed up, we’re leaving. We’re going to find that outpost you talked about.”

Poe shook his head. “No.-”

“Listen to me,” Finn said, stroking his thumb across Poe’s thawing face. He should have figured something out to keep his face warm. He’ll have to figure that out this time. “We’re going to make it. I promise. You did your part. You landed us and kept us alive. Now it’s my turn to save us. Got it?”

Poe just continued to shake and cry. He whimpered in pain. “Why…” Poe swallowed dryly. “Why does it hurt so bad? My head… it… I can’t… hurts.”

Finn felt a pit in his stomach, hearing the pain and frustration in Poe’s voice. “Like I said, you hit your head pretty hard. That strap didn’t do you much good. It sent you flying through the canopy.”

Poe shivered and made a sound in the back of his throat. “Not the flying that I like,” he remarked, though his voice hitched as a tremor passed over his body. “Am I…. d-do I concussioned?”

“Concussed?”

“Mhm. Do I have one?” Poe asked through shivers.

Finn chuckled. It felt good after everything he’d been doing all day. To laugh felt relaxing and warm. “You’re definitely concussed,” Finn confirmed.

“Did I leak blood?”

Finn tried not to laugh at the strange wording Poe’s brain happened to choose in its concussed state. “You leaked blood. Yeah.”

“A lot?”

Finn pursed his lips sympathetically. “You lost a lot of blood from your head.”

Poe let out a breathy whimper at that, looking to one side, his eyes rolling back slightly. “Mm. I don’t like losing blood. It makes me dizzy.”

“I know,” Finn said gently. He ran his fingers through Poe’s cold, crispy hair. “I know you’re dizzy and probably freezing cold too. You should probably drink something, okay? And eat. That will help with both of those things.”

Poe shivered. “I’m so cold, Finn. I think-I think I’m gonna turn into a popsicle.”

Finn pulled back the edges of Poe’s blanket. “Give me your hands. I’ll warm them up.” Poe tried his best to do as he was told but he was slow, trying to figure out how to work his body again. Finn held his hands up to his face and breathed hot air on them. “That help?”

“Mhm,” Poe hummed through his shivers which were more violent with his blanket pulled back.

Finn kept warming them until he could feel Poe moving them on his own. He stuffed them at Poe’s sides near his core. That reminded him that he should check Poe’s core temperature too. He pulled up the hem of Poe’s shirt and pressed his knuckles to the soft skin. He was warm. That was good.

Poe shook from the feeling of Finn’s cold fingers on his skin. Just a moment before they had felt warm in comparison to his face. “S’cold, Finn.”

“Sorry,” Finn said, pulled Poe’s shirt back over his skin. He tucked the Thermo blanket back around him and took a half step back. “I wanted to see if your core was warm enough.”

“I don’t feel warm at all,” Poe chattered.

Finn leaned over Poe again, putting both of his hands on his shoulders. “Yeah. I imagine the blood loss isn’t helping with that. Think you can sit up?”

Poe’s jaw clicked as he shivered and squirmed. “I don’t want to move.”

“You need to,” Finn told him firmly. “There are some hemotabs in the medpac that will help with the blood loss. And you need to hydrate.” Finn looked down at Poe expectantly but the pilot just looked anywhere but him. He squinted out the little crack in their shelter, taking in his surroundings for the first time. “Poe.”

Poe blinked up at Finn, absentmindedly. “What?”

“I’m gonna sit you up,” Finn told him.

This time Poe didn’t argue. He let Finn maneuver himself around Poe, prying him from off the ground. Poe cried harder than he had yet as his head was shifted. “Finn, it hurts.”

“What hurts?” Finn asked, freezing his efforts, afraid he’d done more damage than good.

“Head.”

Finn sighed in relief. “I know, Poe. It’s going to hurt. But we need to do this.”

Poe whimpered and reached for Finn’s hands on his shoulder. “Slow? Please?”

Finn could do that. He nodded. “Slow,” he promised Poe. In fact, he did him one better. He slid behind Poe, allowing Poe to rest his head and neck on Finn’s lap. “We’ll start here, for now, okay?”

“‘Kay.” Poe let his headrest in Finn’s lap, adjusting to the new position, focusing on breathing and on finding warmth. Finn was his greatest source of heat.

They repeated the process two more times, elevating Poe until he was sitting up on his own and Finn could grab the boiling water from the fire. He added some snow from outside to help cool it down faster and set it aside. He retrieved the hemotabs from the medpac and got Poe to take a few according to the instructions.

Poe managed to take all of the tablets and drink all of the water but he refused to eat anything. Finn told him that the tablets could only do so much for the blood loss. He needed to eat. Poe had always been the type to need to be reminded to eat. Leia had been the one to give him those orders. His squadron had held him accountable, claiming that he wasn’t himself when he was hungry. But they all could see the way he slipped into the habit of not eating for whatever reason.

They were all gone now. Leia wasn’t there to order him to eat. Snap was gone. Black Squadron was completely disbanded. So the responsibility to keep Poe eating fell on him. “Alright,” Finn resigned. “I’m gonna go work on removing the nav computer-”

“Can you help me go to the bathroom?” Poe blurted and Finn halted, blinking at Poe. Poe sighed. “I need to pee.”

Finn hadn’t even considered that. With a sigh, he stood up. “Alright. Do you think you can stand up?” he asked, offering his hands to Poe.

Poe blinked up at Finn, reaching up and grabbing at his hands. He weakly tugged on them before giving up. “Help.” Finn bent down to wrap his arms under Poe’s shoulders and haul him up to his feet. “Wow. You’re strong,” Poe complimented.

Once he was on his feet, Finn let him have a minute to adjust. The movement seemed to make him nauseous and dizzy again. Poe didn’t have to say anything for Finn to know. He just did. He knew Poe and felt him differently than he did others.

Helping Poe go to the bathroom was, of course, an ordeal. “I told you I need help,” Poe argued as Finn tried to give him some privacy.

Finn looked at Poe in disbelief. “What do you expect me to do?”

“I feel like I’m gonna fall over, Finn,” he said, reaching a hand out towards Finn. “Just hold onto me.” Poe grabbed Finn’s hand and turned around, making Finn wrap his arms around him to hold him upright securely. “Thank you.”

Finn sighed. “Uh-huh,” he said, shaking his head and rolling his eyes as he heard Poe unfastening his pants. He felt the man swaying and leaning against him. Maybe he really did need the help. Finn bit his lip when he heard the stream hitting the ground to keep from chuckling at Poe’s expense.

“We don’t tell anyone about this,” Poe warned Finn. That was what did Finn in. He laughed into Poe’s shoulder. “Okay, General?”

“Oh. It’ll be our little secret,” Finn promised. “Blackmail,” Finn added, patting Poe’s chest.

By the time they got back to the shelter, Poe was exhausted and immediately plopped down on the ground, leaning against the wall of the ship. Finn wrapped him up in a blanket. “I’m gonna go get that navcom and the power cell so we have something to work with, okay?”

Poe nodded and Finn started to stand up. “Hey, wait,” he called Finn. The younger man looked at Poe expectantly, eyes wide with interest. “There’s insulation inside the ship walls. We could use it to keep warm if you can figure out how to get it out.”

Finn broke out into a smile. “That’s a really great idea, Poe,” he told him. He reached forward and patted Poe’s face gently. “Still got it, even with a giant crack in your skull.”

Poe’s face immediately fell and he looked at Finn in horror. “There’s a crack in my skull?” he asked, the worry on Poe’s face making him go pale.

Finn sighed, regretting the way he’d worded that. “No, Poe.-”

“Am I going to die?” Poe asked frantically. “Nevermind. That’s a pretty dumb question considering we’re probably going to freeze to death after we starve.”

Finn frowned, giving Poe a disapproving look at the sound of his pessimism. “We’re not dying, Poe. I promise. Just like you landed us safely-er-somewhat safely…” Finn trailed off. He wasn’t doing a great job at reassuring Poe. “Do you trust me?”

Poe suddenly broke out into a smile. The back and forth of Poe’s mood wasn’t that unusual but Finn could feel that it wasn’t normal. It was from the concussion. “Course, I trust you, buddy. I trust-” Poe reached forward and poked his chest. “I trust you with my life.”

“Then don’t say that we’re going to die,” Finn said. He grabbed Poe’s hand and squeezed it. “I won’t let that happen. We get off this planet together. Understood, General?”

Poe squeezed Finn’s hand back with a careful nod. “Yes sir.”

With a final nod, Finn was off to get that navcom and power cell, leaving Poe tucked under that wing with the fire slowly starting to grow dimmer. Poe was tired. His body was trying to heal, trying to save itself. He dozed off dreaming about his heroic friend whom he trusted his life with.

**❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅**

Poe startled awake to the sound of a thud. He peeled his eyes open, heart already beating rapidly. His gaze shot all over, looking for Finn or for any sign of threat. Nothing. No Finn. “Finn?”

Poe looked at what had once been a fire keeping him warm. It was completely out now. But at midday, the cold wasn’t so bad. Next to the pile of ash and rubble was a dismantled navcom barely connected to a power cell. “Finn.”

Poe stared at the navcom like he held the answers to all of the most important questions in the galaxy. He wondered where Finn was if he’d already brought the navcom and power cell. He wondered why Finn had let the fire go out. Unless… had Finn been hurt? Taken? Eaten?! “Finn!”

Poe heard another thud from inside the ship, followed by a loud creaking noise. The unmistakable sound of metal crashing against metal echoed through the wall of the ship and reverberated against Poe’s back. Something was destroying the ship. Something had gotten to Finn. This was it. Poe was going to die. And he never got to tell him…

He should have told him. “Finn…” Poe said, resting his head back against the side of the ship, overwhelmed with pain and not the physical kind. He cried. The sound of more metal crashing startled Poe into a panic. The air was too thick. His voice was too small as he cried out for a man he believed wasn’t there anyway. “Finn.”

**❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅**

By the time Finn had gathered up two large mats of insulation and brought them down to the shelter, the fire had gone out. It took him a moment to recognize the sound of hitched breathing and sobs. He dropped the mats and looked at Poe, scrambling to get to him. “Hey! Poe, what’s wrong? Are you hurt? Do you need something?”

Poe stared at Finn in confusion for a minute. “You’re okay?” Poe croaked.

“Yeah. I’m fine,” Finn informed him. He held his hands out demonstratively. “Are you?”

Poe blinked at Finn, seeming to realize something, and close his eyes, squeezing back tears. “No. I wasn’t thinking,” Poe said vaguely. “I-I was just scared a-and I heard the...the sounds. A-and I-I-I-” Poe struggled to string his words together smoothly, too overwhelmed.

“Poe,” Finn said softly yet firmly. He pressed a hand to his shoulder and waited for Poe to look him in the eyes to speak. “You have a concussion. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Just breath.”

Poe took a deep breath and let it out before going right back to trying to talk in overwhelmingly complex sentences. “And I thought there were-you were-that you-”

“Poe,” Finn silenced him. Poe seemed to understand, closing his mouth and lowering his head. Poe wasn’t doing a good job hiding the way he felt. Poe had never been a master illusionist when it came to his feelings. But he hid his insecurities a lot better than this normally. Or at least he tried. Finn smiled softly at him, squeezing his shoulder. “Hey, I took your advice. I pulled the insulation out of the ship walls. We’ll be sleeping warm tonight.”

Poe looked up, following Finn’s direction to the piles of insulation mats just outside the shelter. He looked forward to sleeping on one and maybe even under one. He looked back at Finn. He hoped Finn would be close to him while they slept.

“Where do you want them?” Finn asked.

Poe patted the spot right next to him. “Put here,” he said, closing his eyes. Those words didn’t feel right to him. They didn’t feel good enough. “I think it helps my head if…” Poe trailed off, using his arm to demonstrate an angle. “...if it’s up higher.”

Finn nodded. “Then that will have to do,” he assured Poe. He helped Poe move out of the way and gave him some water to drink while he adjusted the mats. Once he had them arranged, he moved to help Poe but Poe was already crawling there. He let him do it on his own. It comforted Finn to see Poe was well enough to at least do that.

“Alright, General,” Finn said, kneeling on the insulation near Poe. “I’m gonna go find something to light the fire up with again. You’ll be alright?”

Poe looked at Finn quizzically, glancing between him and the navcom and power cell before he reached out. “Give me that. See what I can do with it.” Even with a banged-up head, Poe knew he was better at rigging things than Finn. Finn had grown up in the First Order. He’d probably never even considered it until he ended up attached to the Resistance.

Poe, on the other hand, had been rigging things since he was 10 years old. He could still remember tending to the Force tree beside the Hangar for months after he’d nearly killed it. He’d gotten the brilliant idea to rig a speeder to harvest the koyos. He thought his dad would be so excited to see what he’d done but the brilliance of Poe’s innovation had been squashed by the one flaw of his creation; the exhaust from the speeder had left the Force tree that his mother and father held so dearly black with soot.

Finn passed the navcom to Poe and pushed the power cell as close to the mat as he could get it. He had faith in Poe’s ability to figure something out even if he was having trouble stringing together simple sentences. He was sure Poe’d been rigging things since before he even spoke in sentences.

Finn left Poe once the other man was occupied. He felt bad for leaving Poe alone long enough that he could fall asleep and wake up in such a panic like that. He would have to find fuel for the fire fast.

Finn took both bottom parts of the seat and the little circuit board from the com system he’d forgotten about earlier that day back to the shelter beneath the wing of the ship. He kneeled on the mat near Poe, passing off the circuit to him and sighing. He felt drained. He didn’t think he’d done that much but his neck was still stiff and his hands were starting to go numb in the cold.

Poe broke his concentration away from the navcom screen which he’d managed to power up and asked Finn, “What time is it?”

Finn blinked at Poe. Time? Did that even exist here? It felt like he’d been on that planet for a week already. He thought to himself. He assumed he’d woken up in the morning. Then he’d spent all morning dismantling that navcom before he decided he needed to eat. That must’ve been late morning.

Then Poe woke up and Finn thought that might have been when time became irrelevant. He’d taken care of Poe, helped him go to the bathroom, then left him to rest while he dismantled the navcom and power cell which took a while.

Finn looked outside of their shelter and up at the sky. He supposed it might be getting darker. Then it occurred to him. He had no idea how this planet’s orbital system worked. Maybe days were longer on Hoth. He turned to Poe with raised eyebrows. “How long is one day on Hoth?” he asked Poe.

Poe closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose and furrowing his brows. “I know this,” Poe said, frustratingly confident. But he sat that with that pinched look on his face for longer than Finn was comfortable with.

“It’s okay, Poe,” Finn assured him. “Doesn’t matter. If we’re tired we can sleep.”

“23,” Poe blurted.

“23 hours?” Finn asked and Poe nodded. Finn sighed. “Then this has been a long day.” Finn scooted back off the mat and turned his attention to the seat he’d brought down for fire fuel. He moved the power cell closer to the wall of the ship so the fire could be closer to the insulation mats where they would sleep.

Poe watched as Finn struggled to work his frozen fingers and light the fire. Finn sighed in frustration when each attempt to spark a flame failed. Slowly, Poe sat forward and crawled up next to Finn. He put one of his thermal blankets around him and pushed his hands under the blanket, close to his core body heat.

“Poe, what are you doing?” Finn chided him for getting up at all.

Poe ignored Finn’s protests and reached for the power cell. Two wires were dangling from it which he used to create sparks. He looked at Finn expectantly. He must have read Poe's mind at that point because he pushed the seat towards Poe so the wires would reach. Poe put the wires together near an opening in the upholstery, creating sparks and then flames.

Finn gently and carefully brought the seat back towards himself and guarded the small start to a fire from the wind with his hand. He gently blew on it to encourage the embers to light and burn hotter.

Together, Finn and Poe had light a fire to warm them up simply starting with a spark and whatever they had handy. Once that was accomplished, Finn seemed to sink into the mat of insulation. It was much more comfortable than the ground had been the night before. He looked forward to crashing but he had to make sure Poe was taken care of. And he had to take care of himself too. “Let’s eat,” he told Poe.

This time, Poe at least ate something if half a ration counted as something. Finn thought it did. They were rationing after all. He could eat every ration they had and still be hungry but he limited himself to one. He allowed himself more water since it seemed to be a good supply on Hoth. It was just in solid form and needed to be boiled.

Finn and Poe would pass Finn’s makeshift water boiler back and forth every time it cooled enough to drink. It brought them comfort and warmth like no other in a place as bitterly cold as Hoth.

They passed it back and forth until it was dark out. Between water breaks, they worked together to get the navcom functional enough to find their way to the outpost. Finally, Poe got something. “10 klicks,” Poe said. Then he pointed outside the opening of the shelter which was the same direction the nose of their ship was facing. “That way.”

Finn beamed at Poe, patting his shoulder. “Look at you, Poe. You did it. We’re gonna make it off this planet just fine thanks to you.”

Poe smiled but it didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“What wrong?” Finn asked.

Poe seemed to contemplate something, glancing between Finn and the navcom skeptically. “Um… Nothing. I just don’t look forward to walking that far…” he said quietly.

“It’s not too far,” Finn assured Poe. “We’ll make it. And we can take it slow, take breaks if we need to.” Poe nodded but that look of something doubtful was still there. Finn concluded that maybe it was time they get some sleep. “I’m gonna go to bed,” Finn told Poe, crawling up to lay next to Poe. Poe seemed to be perfectly happy to call it a day.

Finn and Poe would sleep close, sharing the two thermal blankets and covering themselves with another mat of insulation for warmth. “Goodnight, Poe,” Finn said once they were huddled close enough for warmth.

“Night, Finn.”


	3. Day Three - Outpost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They make their way to a better shelter… hopefully...

Poe’s eyes slowly blinked open as he sucked in a slow deep breath upon waking up. He carefully turned his head, looking out the side of their shelter under the wing of the ship. He could see sunlight. It was slightly warm tinted.

Strangely, the second thing he noticed was that Finn was no longer lying right next to him. Somehow he was still warm though. Those insulation mats helped keep them warm through the night. Poe was sure having Finn so close during the night had helped with that too.

Poe carefully shifted and moved to sit up. He felt a surge of pain in his head as he did so. He assumed it had to do with the blood rushing from his head. He felt a little dizzy after that.

“Look who finally woke up,” Finn commented, bringing Poe’s attention to him standing just outside the opening of their shelter. He smiled down at Poe before entering and kneeling beside Poe. “How are you feeling?”

Poe blinked at Finn, the dizziness starting to fade away but the pain was still there. “Felt better,” he remarked.

“Think you’ll be able to make the journey today?” Finn asked optimistically.

Poe wondered how long Finn had been awake. He didn’t sound tired at all. He sounded happy and energized. He was probably just anxious to get going so they could get to the outpost. “Better now than later, right?” Poe responded dryly.

Finn grabbed the container of water that was sitting on the chard seat and handed it to Poe. “Drink up. We’ll want you to be nice and hydrated before we head out.” Finn reached into his pocket and pulled out a ration. He held it up to Poe, giving him a warning look. “You’ve got to eat too, Poe.”

Poe didn’t argue. He felt a dull ache in his stomach that he often contributed to hunger. And he was hoping that eating something would help with that headache. He brought the little water dish up to his lips and drank nearly half of it in one go.

“You must’ve been thirsty,” Finn commented as he scooted closer to Poe. “Is it alright if I check your bandage? I forgot to do it yesterday.”

Poe angled himself so that Finn was on the side of him that the bandage was on. “Yeah. As long as I don’t see the blood. I can’t handle that right now.” Poe carefully opened the ration, trying not to spill any of it. Inside were little pellets and other forms of grain that Poe didn’t know much about. But he’d had that mix many times before. It was extremely nutrient-dense which meant he might be able to split it into two portions for the day.

While he thought long and hard about the complications of splitting his ration into two portions, Finn carefully lifted the side of the bacta wrap to check on Poe’s wound. Poe crunched on the food pellets to keep his mind away from whatever was under that bacta patch. “Looks promising,” Finn told him. “Swelling has already gone down and it’s not bleeding anymore.”

“Hm,” Poe hummed, stuffing a pinch of the ration in his mouth. His teeth ground the dense, hard pellets into something more swallowable. The taste was incredibly bland. “Thank Force for bacta. Saved my life more than once.”

“Mine too,” Finn said.

Suddenly, Poe had a flashback of one of those nights on the Raddus. He’d spent multiple nights in a row sitting at Finn’s bedside while he stitched up that jacket. He talked to Finn, vented to him about his frustrations. He talked to Finn about what Ren had done to him, about how it haunted him whenever he closed his eyes and that was why he couldn’t sleep anymore. He told Finn things he’d never tell anyone. Even if Finn was unconscious.

Because he was unconscious.

Finn patched Poe back up and then started folding up the thermal blankets. “We’ll head out as soon as you’re ready. I figure we’d rather go during the day when it’s warmer.”

Poe nodded, noticing that the pain in his head was starting to subside. Maybe his body was adjusting to the change in blood pressure. “It’s not like I have anything to pack.”

“Sure you do. You’ve got your blanket,” Finn told him, patting his back gently.

Poe turned towards him and smiled warmly. Why was Finn so optimistic today? Had he discovered something and not shared it with Poe yet. Poe sighed, squinting at Finn skeptically.  
  
“What?” Finn asked.

“Nothin’,” Poe said, blinking his smile away just a little. “What have you packed?”

Finn smiled and started to stand, ducking his head until he was outside of the shelter. “Why don’t you get up and some see?” he said, offering a hand to Poe.

Poe sat for a moment longer, drinking the rest of the water and pocketing the rest of his ration. He started on his hands and knees then got up with the help of Finn. “Thanks,” he told Finn, taking a hold of his hand and deciding that he wasn’t going to let go. He wasn’t sure how well he could balance himself just yet. His equilibrium still felt a bit wonky. And Finn’s hand felt warm and soft.

Finn led Poe towards the nose of the ship. The other thermal blanket was still wrapped around Poe as the air was very crisp and cold and he had not crash-landed equipt with a coat suitable for Hoth’s harsh environment. Finn seemed to be adjusting to the cold. Although, he had been working a lot harder and getting his blood flowing more consistently than Poe.

As they neared the front of the ship, Poe saw a bright red stain in the ice. He knew what it was. It made his inside wrench and turn. His head spun as his eyes followed the trail of transperisteel to the front canopy of the ship. “I really flew through that?” he asked Finn.

“Sure did,” Finn confirmed, a seldom look on his face. He could have lost Poe. Very easily, the ship could have kept moving after Poe’d flown out that front shield and run right over him. Poe could have bled out completely and died that way too.

Poe felt strangely dizzy, holding his hand up to his head as he lowered his gaze back towards Finn. “I really must’ve hit is hard,” he said, voice tense and weak.

Finn’s eyes darted back to Poe with a look of concern at the tone of voice. “Poe, it’s really not as bad as you think. The fact that you’re awake and talking and walking at all is a testament to that.”

Poe glanced down at the red stain again, instantly feeling a fog move in on him. “That’s a lot of blood,” he mumbled. He heard voices echo in his head as the world began spinning wildly. He saw ghosts of the ship and of Finn and of that red stain in the ice.

And then Poe felt warmth envelop him. Even with his world spinning out of control in that moment, he knew that warmth from anywhere. It was Finn. Poe’s feet moved with the guidance of that warmth, a reassuring voice, and a solid grip on his shoulders.

The next thing Poe knew, he was on the other side of the ship, exposed to the sun, breathing the crisp refreshing air of Hoth’s lower atmosphere. The fog was gone. Finn’s warmth had pushed it out single-handedly.

“You good?” Finn asked.

Poe squinted at Finn, eyes adjusting to the bright light all around them. He focused on Finn’s warm complexion. Everything else was just too blinding. “Think so,” Poe replied. Though he had no idea what had just happened. One minute he felt like he was spiraling and the next he was fully encompassed in the radiance of a friend.

“Good,” Finn said with a short nod, eyeing Poe suspiciously as he held onto him by both sides of his shoulders. His eyes flickered between Poe and something to their side. “Here,” he said, taking one hand off of Poe’s shoulder carefully and gesturing towards it.

Poe turned his head to find… a sled? Well, as far as Poe could tell, it was a bunch of supplies piled onto a sheet of metal from the ship. At one end, there were a few straps tied together. Had Finn been working on that all morning by himself? Poe looked back to Finn. “Why didn’t you come get me? I could have helped.”

“No,” Finn said in firm disagreement. “I needed you to be well-rested before he traveled 10 klicks on foot.”

Poe was sure if he didn’t have a crack in his skull then he’d be able to come up with an argument. But he ran up blank, staring at the other man in whisper-quiet silence. It felt weird not being able to argue a point he wasn’t even sure he had to begin with. With a sigh, Poe looked back at the pile of supplies. The Navcom, the Powercell, a few other pieces of the ship scavenged for just-in-case purposes, and the emergency kit that had been stashed away inside of the ship were all pile onto the piece of metal. “Be nice if we had some kind of transport,” Poe remarked.

Finn scoffed, bending down to grab the strap, the very strap that had nearly cost Poe his life. Finn would make sure that strap did that at least some good. “Sorry. I didn’t have enough credits when I visited the depot while you were asleep,” Finn remarked, tone dripping dryly with sarcasm. He flung the strap over his shoulder and turned around. “Come on. We don’t have all day.”

**❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅**

Poe was beginning to grow sick of the sun reflecting off the bright, white snow and burning his corneas. He’d barely been walking for 5 minutes when he pulled his thermal blanket over his head to shield his eyes from the brightness. It helped for a while but he’d kill for some shades.

They were very slow-moving. Finn could only go so fast pulling that piece of scrap metal and Poe was doing everything he could to keep up. If his head wasn’t pounding in agony, it was swirling and making Poe’s legs feel like some form of cooked pasta.

“How long have we been walking?” Poe complained, unable to hide his exhaustion and discomfort from the other man. Part of him wanted a break. But the other part knew that he wouldn’t want to get up and keep going if he took one.

Finn halted. There was sweat dripping from his forehead and he was panting harder than a bantha after giving birth. He turned to Poe, squinting. “My concept of time isn’t any better than yours,” Finn replied. He spun around completely, dropping the strap and stretching that shoulder. “Oooo,” Finn groaned and grimaced. His neck made a popping sound and Poe had to turn away and cover his mouth to keep from vomiting on the spot. The nausea was just about too much. “Let’s take a break,” Finn said, a hint of relief coming from his tone.

Poe couldn’t argue with that. He took no hesitance plopping down on the icy ground of the barren plain they were traveling across. He laid back and covered his eyes and face with his blanket completely. Poe felt the tension in his spine ease almost immediately as the cool ice pressed against his back. Slowly, his world came to a stop. No more spinning.

Finn sat, watching Poe’s thermal blanket move up and down as the man breathed under his makeshift shelter. He absentmindedly drank from the collapsible canister he’d found at the bottom of the emergency kit. It was quite large - big enough that he could store enough water for the journey for both of them.

“You should drink some water,” he told Poe, nudging him gently with his food. The figure under the blanket laid completely still. Finn nudged him again. And again. “Poe,” he said, crawling on his hands and knees over to Poe and dragging the water over. He started to move the blanket away but a hand caught his wrist.

“Don’t,” Poe practically growled. “The light hurts.”

“Right…” Finn trailed off. He sat on his knees next to Poe, looking down at the canister of water. “You rest,” he said, slowly leaning back. “I’m gonna-” Finn laid flat on the ice, closing his eyes to block the sun above. “I’m just gonna lay here… pretend I’m somewhere warm…”

They didn’t know how long they laid like that. Once Finn felt rested enough, he sat up and gave himself a snack break. He finished the portion he’d started that morning. He didn’t know what it was - something grainy and bland. He imagined the taste was like what fathiers and orbaks were fed.

“I hate this planet,” Poe blurted when he was starting to feel better. Despite the negativity, it made Finn more hopeful because it meant Poe actually felt well enough to complain.

“You and me both,” Finn agreed. He nudged Poe with his foot, sure that Poe would be more willing to get up this time. “Hey, you need to drink some water, General.”

Finn was afraid Poe would continue to lay there unresponsive but when the General let out a petulant sigh as he slowly sat up, Finn’s fears were put to rest. Poe adjusted the thermal blanket so it lay draped over the top of his head. He looked like a wizard. Finn laughed and scooted the jug across the ice to him.

Poe squinted at him as he loosened the cap on the jug. “What?”

“You look funny,” Finn teased, hands on his knees, beaming at Poe playfully.

Poe continued to squint, nearly glaring at Finn. “You look funny,” Poe retorted, only making Finn laugh. Poe did not understand how Finn could laugh. It was so cold and he was so tired. His stomach still felt a little queasy.

“You gonna eat a little something before we get going again?” Finn asked Poe. 

Poe sat there, pondering Finn’s question. To eat or not to eat? He didn’t know. His stomach told him not to. But his brain, as jumbled up and squished as it felt, was telling him he needed the fuel to make it the rest of the way to the outpost. He fished the half portion of his ration out of his pocket and munched on it, one piece at a time.

“How far have we gone?” Poe asked in between bites, looking at Finn, curiously.

Finn looked back from where they came from. He could still see the mountain the ship had crashed into. He guessed the small reflection as the base of it was coming from the ship’s exterior. Then he looked the way they were going. As far as he could tell, there was no outpost insight. But they’d been traveling for over an hour. “Hopefully halfway,” Finn said doubtfully.

“Hopefully?”

“At the pace, we’re going, one klick takes 15 to 20 minutes. So we’re probably halfway.”

Poe hummed as he forced himself to eat little pellets and grains. He felt like he was eating animal food. His stomach kept telling him to stop, that it would reject any more of it. Poe could only take so much. He shoved the rest of the ration back in his pocket and washed it down with a swing of water. “Let’s get going then,” he said tiredly.

Together, they stood up and began walking, Finn towing the pile of supplies behind him, Poe walking even slower than he had been the first time they’d begun their journey.

**❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅**

“I think I see it,” Finn said, shielding his eyes from the wind and snow.

The weather had just turned on them, making it harder to see where they were going. Poe had fallen behind a few meters. The cold was chilling him to his bones. His feet were blocks of ice. He felt like he was half solidified in carbonite.

Finn turned back to check on Poe. “Do you see that?” Finn asked, pointing in the distance at a vague shadow. It was the first landform they’d seen in over an hour. The weather had slowed them down by a lot.

Poe squinted in the distance, locking his jaw to keep it from chattering like it had been doing for the past hour. He saw nothing. His vision was blurred. Even Finn’s figure wasn’t very crisp. Poe kept taking slow, small steps, catching up with Finn. He stopped, giving himself a moment to breathe. Almost instantly he regretted it. The lack of motion made his stomach churn, his head spin. The ice blocks attached to his legs grew even colder.

“Do you think that’s it?” Finn asked Poe. He too looked cold, shivering and shuddering in the cold. Once the weather started, Finn had taken a thermal blanket and wrapped himself with it while he pulled the supplies.

Poe offered no reply. Instead, he just started moving again. He felt like he was going to be sick. Maybe he was. He didn’t care. If he stopped moving, he’d definitely empty the contents of his stomach. He didn’t need to add that to his list of injuries.

Finn eventually passed him up again, eager to get to the outpost and shelter himself and Poe from the weather. He dreamed that there might be a bed there, more blankets. Some long-lasting coals for heating and cooking. He dreamed there might be food of some kind there.

“That has to be it,” Finn said once he was close enough to make out something that was very obviously a man-made structure. He grinned turning back to share the news with Poe. “Poe, I think I see…” he trailed off when he noticed Poe was further back than usual. “Hey, Poe!”

Poe approached one step at a time. He slowed down with each step. Finn felt his chest ache in concern. Something was wrong. He knew it. He walked back towards Poe, ready to ditch the supplies for a short time and help Poe to the shelter. He was halfway towards Poe when Poe bent over slightly and threw up, vomit splashing all over the ice and beginning to freeze almost instantly.

“Poe,” Finn said worried as he rushed towards Poe. As soon as he got there, Poe fell in his arms. He couldn’t keep himself upright anymore. He was too weak. “Poe, what’s wrong?” Poe whimpered, barely audible in the wind and weather. Finn pulled back the thermal blanket draped over his head to reveal a very flushed looking Poe. His hand-tested Poe’s forehead for heat. It was wet with sweat and hot, too hot for this weather. “You’re burning up, Poe,” Finn declared, pulling one of Poe’s arms around his shoulder and starting to walk him towards the shelter.

Poe’s feet could not keep up with Finn’s yet again. Finn practically dragged him towards the door of the outpost, completely forgetting about the supplies he’d worked too hard to drag all that distance. Poe blinked his eyes open, now able to recognize that there was, in fact, a door. He never doubted Finn.

Poe unexpectedly threw up again. He tasted that animal food again. It tasted even worse the second time. And that was the last thing Poe thought before he blacked out in Finn’s arms, nearly falling into his own pile of vomit. Finn was able to catch Poe before he did but he couldn’t help that he had to drag Poe’s boots through it in order to get to the door before he himself toppled over.

Finn shook the door frantically, breaking it free of any ice. The latch was broken so it was easy to get in after that. Inside, the shelter was dark. Finn didn’t know where he could set Poe so he set his unconscious body against the wall near the door.

Feeling around the black wall for a switch, Finn shut the door. It was completely dark for a moment. All Finn heard was the sound of the wind howling outside and his own breath gasping desperately.

Finn found the switch and the room was light. He turned around, taking note of a fireplace, a kitchen area, a fresher, a bed… thank Force there was a bed. Finn hoisted Poe to his feet, bending down to scoop him up under his knees and carry him to the bed.

He unlaced Poe’s boots, tossing them towards the door. He frantically ripped off the man’s socks and rubbed his feet with his palms. He did the same with Poe’s hands, trying to get the blood flowing towards his extremities. Finn climbed on the bed next to Poe and pressed his own freezing cold hand to Poe’s burning forehead, hoping to help cool down his temperature.

After a few minutes, Finn began to shiver. He needed to get the heat going. He discovered the fireplace used coal and whoever had been there last left a fair supply of it. Finn would feel thankful for it later. He wasted no time lighting a fire and thawing his hands and feet out from the cold.

As he felt the blood around his bones begin to warm up, he took a moment to examine the room around him. At first, he’d thought it felt like a cave but now that Finn had a moment to take it all in, it really felt like a windowless room on a ship. Metal sheets were welded close together so that they had an air-tight seal. The ceiling was rounded like a dome but the echo was absorbed by the double bed pushed to one side of the circular room.

One circular room. Upon entry, Finn had passed a small kitchen on one side. The counter curved with the room before jutting out at the door and creating a peninsula. Between the fireplace and the kitchen was a table. Hanging on the wall near the table were tools and spare parts.

On the other side of the door, across from the kitchen, was a triangular room. Finn assumed it was a fresher. He hoped it was a working one. He’d have to check it out.

On the other side of the fresher wall, was the bed in which Poe was beginning to toss and turn. Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead and onto the linens below. Finn wondered if they were clean, to begin with. He wondered who had been here last to leave the place so neat and stocked with coals.

Fresher - bed - fireplace - table - kitchen - door - repeat. That was the thing about a circular room. It repeated itself.

Finn’s attention was brought to Poe when he heard the sound of a pained moan. He stood up, quickly rushing over to the bed. He kneeled on the soft surface and leaned over Poe to get a good look at him. He was still looking flushed, still sweating profusely.

Finn was worried the wound on Poe’s head might have gotten infected. Carefully, he pulled back the bacta patch he’d wrapped around Poe’s head. Underneath the patch was a pink and red fluid oozing into the patch. He supposed it was time to change it.

  
That when Finn remembered he’d left the supplies outside. With a heavy sigh, Finn prepared to endure the windy, cold weather outside. But he wasted no time because he had none to spare. Not when Poe’s well being was at stake.

Within just a matter of minutes, Finn was yanking the door back open and letting a woosh of cold air breeze through the room. He was sure Poe’s exposed toes felt the cold wind hit their pads. He dragged the entire sheet of metal full of salvaged supplies from the wreckage in through the door so he could shut out the cold.

Finn panted heavily, leaning against the door tiredly. “Never doing that again,” he told himself. He allowed himself to catch his breath before he dug the medpac from the emergency pack and made his way back over to the bed to tend to Poe’s wounds.

As soon as Poe had a fresh bacta patch, Finn went to the fresher to see if there was running water for a cool compress he could apply to Poe’s forehead. He messed with the faucets for a few minutes before he considered the fact that the water tanks were probably frozen. With some hard searching, Finn found the switch for the water heater. Suddenly, Finn found himself happy, excited even.  
  
Had they really stumbled upon an outpost that had been abandoned for who-knows-how-long with power and running water? If it weren’t for Poe’s ailments, it would feel like a vacation. Of course, what were the chances that there would be edible food left in the kitchen.

That was the place Finn searched next. And he was right. No food. But there was a giant pot that he could boil water for drinking in. Finn glanced at the outside door, debating on if he really wanted to go outside again. He almost forgot why he wanted to have water. Then he heard another whimper from Poe, a reminder that he promised Poe they’d leave that planet alive.

Finn looked at Poe from across the room, a weight pulling at his chest. A fever could kill Poe. And if he lost Poe… Finn’s throat closed at the very thought of losing Poe like this, losing him at all. There were so many things they’d left unsaid.

Finn left the room, determined to fill that pot with as much solid water as he could before he came back. As tempting as that bed looked for himself, he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep with the thought of Poe not surviving because he chose sleep over braving the cold for water.

Things hadn’t been right between them since that day on Kef Bir.

_“I’m not Leia.”_

_“That’s for damn sure.”_

Finn cringed every time he heard his own voice repeat the words in his head. His heart clenched every time he saw the hurt flash across Poe’s beautiful face before he’d stormed off. He knew Poe took it the wrong way. He wasn’t sure there was a right way to take it. He wasn’t even sure he’d meant for Poe to take it the right way. Finn couldn’t help the way he’d felt watching Poe interact with Zorii. He assumed there had been something there once before.

_“Can I kiss you?”_

Poe’s voice still echoed in his head. Those words felt so wrong directed at her. It left a bitter taste in Finn’s mouth which was probably why he didn’t hesitate to spit that bitterness right back at Poe. After all the prying Poe had done with regards to what Finn wanted to talk to Rey about, Finn had been emotionally worn out by the man. Poe had worn his tolerance thin as he did with many people. The pilot had a way of pushing people’s buttons if he didn’t get what he wanted. And Finn had snapped.

_“That’s for damn sure.”_

Rey was right. Poe was a difficult man. And the fact that he was easier to take care of when he had a concussion and a fever than when he had neither only confirmed the validity of the claim.

Finn wrung out a rag and placed it over Poe’s forehead. With a heavy sigh, Finn laid down. The bed was a thousand times better than the insulation mats from the ship. He laid on his side to face Poe, watching the man breathe heavily in his fitful sleep.

With a final heavy sigh before dozing off, Finn muttered to himself, “Difficult man.”


	4. Day Four - Feverdreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poe is delirious while he fights a fever...

Finn had hardly slept. It seemed like every time he dozed off one of Poe’s limbs would thrash in a feverish fit and smack him somewhere tender. Finn had been rather tolerant of Poe’s clammy hands meeting his face several times in the night but when Poe’s knee cap met his groin disgracefully, he called it a night-er-a morning. Whatever it was. Finn had lost all concept of time at this point. Were they on day three? Four?

Finn removed himself from the bed, ready to go sleep on the floor next to the fire for he’d lost all patience with Poe’s limbs. As soon as his feet hit the cold floor, he heard a pained whimper. Finn only turned his head to check on Poe. He was still laying on the bed, sprawled out and sweaty but the pained expression on his face is what concerned Finn. He wasn’t going to admit to watching Poe sleep but he knew for a fact that Poe only made that scrunched up, wounded expression when he was having a nightmare.

Finn nearly startled when Poe’s arms spasmed, growing painfully rigid as he pulled them tight around himself. Poe panted and let out a pained cry. The sound pierced Finn’s tired ears, overwhelming his senses so soon after sleep. Finn scooted back onto the mattress towards Poe, reaching to check his relative temperature. He had no way of knowing just how high it was but he knew for sure the fever wouldn’t break any time soon.

“Poe, can you hear me?” Finn asked. As if Poe’s body had heard Finn’s question, the pilot’s back curved inward, arching Poe’s torso like a bridge as Poe struggled to groan in his discomfort. Finn was nearly horrified at the poltergeist-like image of his best friend.

When Poe’s body laid flat against the mattress again, Finn’s horror did not go away. Poe cried; he sobbed. He hyperventilated as salty tears streamed down his flushed, warm cheeks.

“Poe,” Finn said, moving closer to Poe to grab his hand. He leaned over him, looking down at his friend's face. With one hand, he brushed back those sweaty curls away from the skin of his face. Gently, Finn moved Poe’s face to and fro. “Poe, can you hear me? Can you say something? Open your eyes? Anything?” All Finn wanted was some kind of response, something that assured him Poe’s fever was not too high.

Poe began to toss and turn, thwacking at Finn’s abdomen with his fist. “Leia,” Poe’s voice croaked in agony. He was swallowing molten iron while locked in carbonite. His teeth smashed together with the clenched of his jaw - more tossing - more turning.

Finn sighed, looking up at the ceiling as if she were up there, looking down on them. Of course, Poe was dreaming about her. He never even got to mourn her death. No one had really. Finn’s vision blurred with the flood of tears he felt coming. He looked down at Poe and his tears fell on the other man’s face.

A pair of glassy brown eyes were suddenly staring up at Finn. The usual light and life that filled them were not there. Just fear. Just pain. Poe’s eyes crinkled, pinching out a few tears and he choked on a gut-wrenching sob saying, “I’m not Leia.”

A string attached to Finn’s heart was pulling it downwards towards his stomach. That was his fault. He was sure of it. Maybe Poe had been the one to say, “I’m not Leia.” But Finn’s words had only confirmed Poe’s insecurity.

_ “That’s for damn sure.” _

If Finn closed his eyes, he could still see Poe’s hair flapping in the wind. He could feel the cold, wet breeze of Kef Bir on his own skin. Finn could physically feel Poe’s emotional pain.

Finn wondered what Poe saw behind those closed eyes. Did he see his friend hurting him? Or did he see himself as never being enough? Or did he see both because of his friend?

The former stormtrooper linked fingers with Poe’s, holding his hot, sweaty hands near his chest. At least his hands and feet weren’t freezing anymore. Except… Now Poe was too hot. Finn removed the blankets he’d encapsulated Poe in and almost immediately, Poe’s feverish thrashing calmed.

Finn sighed in relief, sitting on the bed beside Poe. “If you were too hot, you could have just said so,” he teased the unconscious man. He said it more for his own entertainment and sentiment than anything else.

As Poe let out a heavy sigh, a quiet mewl left his lips. He shifted one last time before going entirely still, chest rising and falling steadily. Every few exhales, Poe made a noise. Nothing guttural or shrill. Just little whimpers and moans that passed from his throat effortlessly. Poe’s throat bobbed up and down as he swallowed.

The pinched look on the man’s brows was gone leaving the feverish pilot’s face soft, limp. To Finn, he looked nothing less than perfect. It was as if Poe was floating on a cloud, at peace, and poised. His skin glistened with a shiny layer of sweat. He was luminous, just like her - like Leia.

“You might not be Leia but you certainly are a princess, General,” Finn told the man. He leaned over said princess, using the rag from the night before to wipe at some of the sweat. Looking down at Poe, even in his current state, Finn could not help but see the beauty beneath him. The forest of brown curls covering the caramel-colored scape beneath had always been so tempting. He wanted to explore that jungle of hair and to kiss that sweat skin.

So tempting…

Before Finn could control himself, his fingers were in that mop of hair, gently pulling at those loose curls and releasing them. He watched them bounce curiously. Hoth was not as humid as Ajan Kloss so Poe’s curls did not exude their normal bounce. Finn was sure it didn’t help that Poe still had crusty blood weighing down his spiral locks.

Poe stirred, pulling Finn from his ogling. He worried for a moment that Poe’s peace was already about to be over, a single moment of solidarity amongst hours of war within his own body. But Poe’s moment of peace was not over. He exhaled and relaxed, dozing off into a peaceful slumber yet again. Finn sighed in relief. That terrible moment was over. Poe was alright. For now.

He leaned down and pressed a tender kiss to Poe’s forehead. “Rest easy, Princess,” he told Poe, patting his chest as he slid off of the mattress. Finn pulled one of the thermal blankets over to the fire, laying it out in front of the fireplace. Before sitting down, he filled up a cup with some warm water and helped himself to one of the rations in the medpac.

Finn sat in front of the fire, wrapped up in the warmth of the blanket. He stuffed little pieces of the ration in his mouth, savoring the sweetness of the aftertaste. It was one of the better rations he’d had since crash-landing. With the warm water, it settled nicely, giving him a sated feeling as his muscles relaxed.

Finn had never felt that way before. At that moment, it was just him and Poe cooped up in an abandoned outpost on an ice planet with no way to contact anyone for help. The galaxy did not lie upon Finn’s shoulders while he was there. The only thing relying on him was Poe. And Finn liked taking care of Poe.

Finn liked Poe. He wished Poe had never gotten hurt, never got a fever. If they’d both been fine, it would have felt more like a vacation. But it wasn’t. Finn wasn’t sure how long they would be stuck on that ice planet. Would it be a few more days? A couple of weeks? He knew they only had enough rations for a few more meals if they partitioned them out conservatively.

He was going to have to look for food. And soon. But for the moment, he would stay warm by the fire, letting the warmth wash over him. He felt each muscle in his body relax to a state they’d never been before. Before he knew it, he was asleep on the floor, wrapped up in the reflective blanket near the toasty fire.

**❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅**

Finn tested out the running water in the fresher. Not only was the water no longer in its solid-state, but it was also warm. Finn jumped up in excitement letting out a jubilant shout of exclamation. He was dying to take a nice, hot shower.

To Finn’s dismay, the water did not stay warm for very long. He supposed it needed a little more time. Or maybe the tank was not very large. Either way, running water was the best thing that had happened to him and Poe since they entered the system.

Finn used a towel from the fresher, one he hoped was clean and wrapped it around his waist. He walked back into the main room so that he could wash and dry his clothes. While he found no soap, he knew washing them in hot water would at least help a little. So he let them soak in water for a fair amount of time before ringing them out and putting them near the fire to dry.

He did the same with some of Poe’s clothing. While Finn had been in the shower, Poe had managed to shuck off his shirt which was drenched in sweat. So Finn washed that and his stockings. That way Poe would have something fresh to wear when the fever broke.

As he hung up Poe’s clothing, he heard a strange whimpering noise. He’d heard Poe’s whimpers before. He’d heard him when he was sick or in pain. He was familiar with the grunts and groans that left Poe’s throat when he was hurting. And he was familiar with the whines that escaped his lips when he was being pouty or dramatic. But this…

Finn was afraid that an animal had gotten in while he was in the fresher. A high pitched, breathy mewl echoed against the walls. Finn’s heart lurched against his rib cage until he recognized that sound came from Poe. But his relief only lasted a moment before his worry for the other man took over. He rushed to Poe’s side as the foreign sound continued. Air rushed in and out of Poe’s lungs as he hyperventilated in between sobs.

Finn could feel, almost see, the fear in the air. It was cold, paralyzing. He wanted to shrink away and wrap his arms around himself; it was so suffocating. It was coming from Poe. As a shake from Poe’s body shook the bed, Finn realized that Poe was afraid.

“Poe,” he said. His voice was smooth despite his distraught state of mind. The tone was soft and quiet, running like silk over Poe’s warm skin. Finn’s hand was gently laden against the back of Poe’s head, pressing just enough to show Poe he was there but not hurt his injury in the process.

When Poe opened his eyes, they were filled to the brim with tears, swollen, and red. He was quiet only for a moment before he stared past Finn and his body tensed again and the sobs continued.

Finn had never seen a grown man cry like that. He wasn’t sure he’d even seen many people cry like that at all. Poe’s face was flushed and growing redder as his choked sobs bounced off the walls. Finn brushed back tears as they rolled down the sides of Poe’s face.

“Poe, can you hear me?”

Poe very briefly glanced at Finn before his eyes fell behind him again. Finn couldn’t help but glance to see if something was there. But it was just the wall of the fresher. He turned back to Poe with a sigh saying,

“You see something?”

Poe glanced between Finn and the wall unblinkingly. He nodded very shortly, hands tensing. Open. Closed. Open. Closed. Breathing. In. Out. In. Out.

Finn didn’t know what else to do but place himself between Poe and the wall. “Poe, we’re alone. It’s just you and me,” Finn assured him. Poe’s eyes only widened as he grew stiffer and quieter. He felt as if Poe was calling for him to come closer, to protect him, to keep him safe. Now that was a calling Finn couldn’t resist, not when he wanted the same from Poe.

“Oh, Poe,” he said, crawling onto the bed and laying next to Poe. Poe’s eyes remained on the wall, unable to break his focus, completely transfixed. Finn had to force Poe to look away, rolling him onto his side so they were face-to-face, chest-to-chest.

Poe was vibrating from head to toe with shivers and shakes. Each whimper cut off by a hiccup or a jolt. But upon realizing he was looking at Finn, something stilled inside of Poe. “Finn,” he croaked.

Finn felt a wave of relief when Poe expressed his recognition. “Hi,” he said, rocking Poe gently by the shoulder, assuring him he was there. “I’m here. You’re not alone.”

Poe’s shaky hands found their way to Finn’s chest. “I’m sorry,” he cried. He was no longer shaking with sobs but shivers continued to rack through his body. His breaths were increasingly longer but lacked the depth he truly needed. “I’m trying,” Poe promised, shaking his head, knocking his fist against Finn’s collarbone. “I’m trying to be-to be better. But I-I’m not-mmhn-not Leia. I can’t-”

“Shshshshsh,” Finn lulled. He brought a hand up to Poe’s face, brushing away some of those fallen tears that pooled in the corner of his nose. “Poe, you don’t have to be Leia. No one is asking you to.”

His breath hitched every few seconds as the mattress shook with Poe’s shivers. His dark, chocolate eyes were locked on Finn’s unable to break them away. A drop of sweat rolled across his forehead and hit the bed, another following its path.

Finn sighed and his cool breath raced across Poe’s forehead. He sat up just enough to look for the wet cloth to wipe at Poe’s forehead. Behind Poe, as he searched for the cloth, his fingertips were met with wet sheets, soaked through. “Force, Poe. You’re sweating a lot,” he commented. Feeling around some more, he found the rag and ran it across Poe’s forehead. “Is that better?”

Poe blinked. No response.

Finn continued to dab at the sweat on Poe’s forehead despite the lack of response he was getting. He tested Poe’s temperature with the back of his hand again, wishing he had a more accurate read than whatever his gut was telling him. Then again… his gut had never led him down the wrong path. It was his gut that told him ‘that Resistance pilot is my way out.’ It was his gut that told him ‘Something is wrong with Rey.’ It was his gut that told him where to go and when.

His gut? Who was he kidding? Finn knew very well where that gut feeling was coming from. It was the same thing that guided Leia and Rey and all of the Jedi of the past. But Finn didn’t want to think about the Force. Being a Jedi was the last thing he wanted. He didn’t want to adhere to another code for the rest of his life. He wanted freedom. He wanted choices and he feared that admitting out loud that he knew he was Force-Sensitive, he would give up that freedom of choice.

Now, his gut was telling him that Poe would be alright. But that didn’t make him feel any better. Poe was still in pain and afraid. Finn hated seeing Poe like that. The pilot’s eyes were so dark and glossed over as he stared at Finn unresponsively. “Poe,” he said softly. He carded his fingers through Poe’s hair carefully, avoiding the wound on his head and the dried up knots of blood as best he could. “You hear me?”

“Hmph,” Poe huffed with a heavy sigh, finally breaking his gaze away. Poe laid flat on his back, throwing his hand over his forehead as if mellow dramatically fainting. Poe groaned in agony but Finn found himself laughing despite Poe’s pain. It was the same noise Poe would make when he was being forcibly woken up by BB-8 in the mornings.

BB-8… Finn wondered what things would’ve been like if BB-8 had been with them. That astromech probably would’ve fixed the coms on the ship all on his own. Then Finn and Poe would’ve done what they do best together - Poe piloting, Finn shooting. But BB-8 was with Rey and Chewie. Finn wished he’d convinced Rey not to take him. He could tell Poe wasn’t thrilled about the idea, having just got the astromech back.

Finn sat the rest of the way up to look down at Poe. Gently holding on to the other man’s wrist, he pulled it back to look at his face. “I’m gonna get you some water, alright?”

Poe nodded stiffly, blinking at the show of lights that suddenly irritated his senses. He grunted again, going stiff for a moment before continuing to shiver. That concerned Finn enough that he reached behind Poe’s neck, gently lifting to feel how tight it was.

“Do you feel pretty stiff?” he asked, massaging the muscles of Poe’s neck.

“Mhm,” Poe whined desperately, on the verge of crying by the sounds of it. As Finn continued to massage Poe’s hot, sweaty neck, the muscles began to spasm causing Poe to cry out in pain. “Ngh!”

“Sorry. Okay,” Finn said apologetically, pulling back his hand. “I’ll stop. I don’t think that’s helping.” He breathed shakily and adjusted to sit on his knees, feeling completely useless. He didn’t know what he could do for him. “What do you need, Poe?”

“Huhhh, tt!” the Pilot mumbled and stirred in the sheets, throwing his arm back over his eyes to block the light. Finn’s eyes darted up to the ceiling, landing on the object of Poe’s irritants.

“You want me to turn off the lights?”

“Hm.”

“I can do that,” Finn said. He sighed in relief as he climbed out of the bed, now sure of something he could do to help Poe feel better. He walked across the room and flipped the light switch, instantly sending the room into a dark orange glow from the dim fire. “I’m gonna get you some warm water,” he told Poe from across the room.

After putting a pot of water over the fire, Finn laid the medpac out on the table, sorting through every bandage and bottle of medicine. He scanned the label of each bottle, looking for something that would help reduce fever or any of the symptoms Poe was experiencing.

As terrible as that freighter had been, its medpac and emergency kit were well stocked. Finn felt like there was medicine for everything there. Finn read each bottle and set it to his left. “Pain reliever. Pain reliever. Inflammation,” Finn listed off each bottle he set aside. “Stool loosener?” Finn shook his head. He couldn’t see how that was an emergency medication but maybe it was applicable to other species.

The next bottle he pulled out a translucent bottle with a clear, viscous liquid. He dumped it upside down, watching it slowly roll from one side of the bottle to the other. Something for infections? A topical wound agent perhaps? When Finn turned the bottle around to read the label, his eyes widened in surprise. The bottle read: Lubricant. Finn angled it just a little bit more and read the first word: Medical Lubricant. That still didn’t explain anything. Was it used for emergency surgery? Emergency exams?

Finn tossed it back in the medpac. Clearly, there would be no use for that. Even if Poe needed surgery, Finn would have no idea how to do it. What good would Medical Lubricant do for them? As he threw the bottle back in the medpac, he noticed four silver packets. Curiously, he reached for one and read the label: Fever Reducing Powder. Finn sighed and laughed in relief. “Perfect.”

Finn mixed the tasteless powder in with some warm water and let it sit while he got Poe sitting up. Finn was encouraged by the fact that Poe managed to stay sitting up all on his own. But the way Poe was looking at him was frightening. The way the pilot was hunched in on himself, head hanging low. Where was that confidence, that cockiness, that was so often associated with Poe?

“Here,” Finn said, holding the cup up to Poe. “Drink all of this and you can go back to sleep.” He looked for some form of acknowledgment from Poe but the man just sat and stared at him blankly. Finn pressed the edge of the cup to Poe’s lips, breaking the feverish man’s gaze for a moment. To Finn’s relief, Poe’s hand reached up for the cup, helping Finn angle it to pour the liquid into his mouth.

As Poe drank, Finn felt the muscles in his body relaxing again. He hadn’t even realized how stressed he’d gotten worrying about Poe. He huffed out a sigh when Poe was finished, overwhelmed with relief. “Poe Dameron, I swear you are going to be the death of me,” he teased.

Almost instantly he realized the way he phrased that was a huge mistake. Poe’s face contorted into one of hurt as he shrunk in on himself. “I don’t want you to die, Finn,” he croaked. His voice was barely above a whisper, so timid and unlike Poe.

“Poe, that’s not what I-” Finn’s words were cut off by a choked sob from Poe and his heart broke. “Oh my…” Finn trailed off in exasperation. This fever was really messing with Poe. It made him a completely different person. Finn felt like he was taking care of a stranger. But Poe was no stranger. Poe was someone Finn cared about very deeply and hated to see hurt. “Come here,” Finn said, pulling the sweaty, hot pilot into his arms.

As Poe sobbed deliriously into Finn’s shoulder, repeating phrases over and over, Finn carded his hand through Poe’s blood crisp hair, praying to the Force that Poe would get out of this fever soon. He hated seeing Poe like this.

Finn spent his entire day comforting a fevered pilot through his fever dreams and making sure he drank plenty of water. In between episodes of delirium, Finn would busy himself with organizing their supplies and taking inventory. He calculated how much time they had before they would starve to death. He sorted out the scavenged com system, navcom, and power cell from the freighter. The only way they’d make it off that planet was if Poe got better enough to rig up something to send out a signal for help. He hoped that medicine worked soon.


	5. Day Five - Starved

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poe thinks Finn has left him...

Poe’s fever dreams kept Finn up most of the night. Finn wanted to sleep on the floor in front of the fireplace but Poe was rather clingy. Which made what Finn needed to do even harder.

When Poe was asleep, Finn managed to break away and put on some warm clothes. He layered up, adding Poe’s jacket on top of his own to ensure some extra warmth. He knew he’d still be freezing cold but it was the best he could do.

“I’ll be back, okay,” he told Poe. He kept his voice low and quiet to refrain from waking the other man. Before opening the door, he checked his hip for his blaster. He could never be too safe, not when Poe was counting on him to bring back food. Finn took a deep breath and one last look at Poe. The pilot was still asleep, lying completely still with his arms sprawled out from a restless fit he’d thrown a few moments before Finn decided he needed to take his chance and leave.

After exhaling and bouncing on the balls of his feet, he pushed the door open and was hit with a chilling gust of wind and flurries. Finn was tempted to close the door and just hide, take his chances with starvation, but he couldn’t. Poe was counting on him.

Finn planted his boot on the firm ice and forced himself to brave the cold. He had to be brave. He had to be strong. If he didn’t find something for them to eat, they might die on that lord forbidden planet. Finn hugged himself, stuffing his hands under his arms for warmth.

“It’s either starve to death or freeze,” he muttered to himself as he trudged across the icy plane, squinting from the light reflecting into his eyes. Everywhere Finn could see looked white, no sign of life. Hoth was a blank slate. “I don’t even know if there is any food on this planet.”

A few meters out from the door of the outpost, Finn stopped in his tracks. Holding his hand over his eyes, he scanned the horizon for anything that might indicate ‘food’. Finn thought to himself that some shades would be nice. The reflection of light from all the snow and ice was blinding after hiding in a cave for a day.

After blinking away the overexposure of light from the sun and snow, Finn was able to make out a patch of something in the distance. He couldn’t tell what it was, of course. All he could tell was that it wasn’t blindly white like the rest of the planet’s surface. Finn tramped across the ice-covered flatlands to find something edible. Whenever he doubted himself, he fell back onto his motivation for leaving that bunker. Poe was counting on him.

**❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅**

Poe blinked awake, his world coming into a blurry view. His brain was a hot cauldron of molten metal but his bones were frigid brisk steel. His neck strained as he turned his head to scan the room for Finn. But the fog around the room was too thick. He couldn’t see.

“Finn,” he called out, closing his eyes. He waited, tossing and turning for Finn’s comforting touch to lull him back into a dreamless sleep but it never came. Poe’s body lay there, somewhere between burning and freezing.

He blinked his eyes open again, trying to identify where he was. An orange glow flickered against the walls of the room, wherever he was. The more he blinked, the clearer his vision became, he could make out the shape of a dome ceiling above him. He didn’t know where he was.

Shutting his eyes, squeezing them hard, and clenching his fists, he thought hard. Where was he? Who was he with? “Finn,” he muttered aloud. He knew that much. But how?

Flashes of white, fire, and blood cascaded through his mind in rapid succession. But he remembered. He was on Hoth with Finn. They’d crash-landed. Poe’s eyes shot open again, darting to all corners of the room. But where was Finn?

He didn’t see him. Finn hadn’t heard him. Poe looked at the corner that jutted out of the wall: the fresher. He hoped that was where Finn was. “Finn,” he called out louder, rolling onto his side and pushing his torso up with his arms. They felt like old, creaky metal, buckling under the pressure.

His spine spasmed as he sat up, hunching forward and hugging himself for warmth. His hands felt numb. Poe brought them up towards his face and his stomach dropped. They were as pale as the snow outside. He pressed them against his face. The cold sweatiness of his hands felt relieving against his burning forehead. His face felt two degrees away from catching on fire.

Poe swallowed, throat painfully sore and dry. He felt like he was swallowing sandpaper. He cleared his throat and pulled his hands away from his face to search for water. Beside the bed he’d woken upon, there was a small, wooden table with a cap halfway full of water.

He used both of his shaky hands to bring the cup up to his lips. With each gulp, his throat felt better until it was gone. He set it down, blinking around the room again. “Finn,” he called, getting to his feet to check the fresher. He wanted Finn.

Poe’s feet didn’t listen to his brain at first. His steps were clunky and hesitant. But after a few, he could stop using the bed for support. He took one step and then another. On the third step, his knees buckled and he swayed, clinging to the fresher wall for support.

He panted, rounding the corner to peek in the door. Finn was just around the corner. At least, that was what Poe had told himself. But he couldn’t even hallucinate the man’s figure. The fresher was cold and empty. Suddenly, so was everything else.

Poe’s breath hitched and his heart stopped. Finn wasn’t there. He spun back around, checking every corner of the room again. No Finn. Finn wasn’t there. Poe felt something inside of himself shatter as he collapsed onto his knees. His body couldn’t take any more. It was too weak, fighting off the fever.

He hunched in on himself, wrapping his arms around his waist. Tears spilled from his eyes uncontrollably as he realized he was alone. Poe always hated being alone when he was sick. He felt so cold, so alone.

Finn had left him.

**❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅**

Finn beamed with pride as he took in his stockpile of what he hoped were edible finds. He’d found some kind of ice mushroom and a few rodents. He assumed that since the rodents were eating the mushrooms then that meant they were poisonous. Not that Poe would eat mushrooms let alone rodents. The guy was rather particular about food. Finn would sneak them into Poe’s stomach somehow. The man had to eat to get better. Being picky wasn’t an option when Poe’s life was on the line.

Finn finally reached the door to the outpost, ready to go inside and warm up. He’d spent way too much of his day outside. His feet felt like blocks up ice and his hands were increasingly stiff. He yanked the door open, letting out a moan of relief as the cold, brisk air turned into warmer air. He could already feel the feeling returning to his fingers and toes.

Finn immediately slung the thermal blanket full of mushrooms and rodents that he’d captured onto the kitchen counter. He groaned, kicking off his boots, eager to get his little toes warm again. He shucked off his jacket, setting it next to the food he’d gathered.

“Finn,” a weak voice echoed through the room.

Finn’s eyes went to the bed where Poe was supposed to be but instead, he found him on the floor in front of the door to the fresher. “Poe, what are you doing?” he scolded him, racing to his side and putting his arms around him. “You need to stay in bed-”

“You left me,” Poe said. His voice trembled. He choked on a sob and looked up at Finn with a tear-soaked face. “I don’t want to die alone. Don’t leave me,” he pleaded, eyes red and glassy.

Finn made a choked sound in surprise at Poe’s words. “Poe, you’re not dying,” he promised the man. “And you’re not alone. I’m right here.” Finn put Poe’s arm around his shoulder and stood up to walk Poe back to the bed.

Poe landed on the bed with a huff and a thud, looking up at Finn with the most painful look of betrayal in his eyes. “Why did you leave me?” he cried.

“I didn’t leave you. I went to go get food,” Finn tried to explain. He brushed back Poe's hair again. His fever was still burning hot. He needed to check that wound on his head again. Finn was beginning to fear Poe’s fever had something to do with an infection and wasn’t just brought on by the concussion and cold weather. “Stay in bed,” he told Poe, gently pushing down on his shoulder. “I’m going to make us some food and then I’ll take a look at your head again.”

“Don’t leave me,” Poe repeated, reaching to grip Finn’s wrist.

“I’m not leaving,” Finn promised, laying a hand on Poe’s. He’d never seen Poe like this before. “You’ll be able to see me the entire time, okay.” He gestured to the kitchen area and stepped aside so Poe could see where he would be. “I’ll be right there. I’ll even talk to you if you want. Is that what you want, Poe?”

Poe nodded, blinking more tears from his eyes. Finn let out a sigh, prying his wrist From the death grip Poe’s hand had on it. “Having a fever makes you really dramatic,” Finn informed him as he walked over to the kitchen to prepare the rodents and mushrooms.

“I-I’m always dramatic,” Poe quipped.

“Ain’t that the truth,” Finn mumbled to himself as he opened up the blanket with the blasted rodents and mushrooms. He scrunched up his nose as he laid six dead rodents in the sink. He didn’t have much experience with skinning or preparing animals to be eaten. “Gross,” he said under his breath.

He figured he’d make a soup with the bone broth and mushroom stems. Then he’d stuff the tender parts of the rodent into the mushroom caps to eat. At least that way they would have variety. He wished they had spices of some kind.

“Hope you like mushrooms,” Finn said. He knew Poe hated mushrooms. He wasn’t big on meat either. He figured he’d save what was left of the rations for Poe and he’d eat the meat and mushrooms.

Finn talked to Poe the entire time he was preparing the food. He was very pleased to discover some old spices that had been left in the cabinets. “Do you think it is safe to use these spices?” he asked Poe.

The man was lying flat on his back, eyes closed. Finn was suspicious he'd fallen asleep. “What is it?” he asked Finn, opening one and peeking over at him.

Finn looked at the bottle and sniffed it. “Smells like catabar to me,” he replied.

“S’fine,” Poe said.

Finn put a generous amount of the spice on the stuffed mushrooms. He checked the other bottle of spice and sniffed it. “What about paprika?” he asked. His nose told him it was alright but he wanted whatever bits of wisdom Poe had to give him even if he was feverish. Poe knew who was there last. Poe knew how old the spices were.

“What am I? A spice expert?” Poe asked, in annoyance.

“Well, you were a spice runner.”

“What? You think I was running paprika and anilam between sectors? Different kind of spice, buddy,” Poe said.

Finn couldn’t help but smile when Poe was suddenly speaking so much. Finn wondered if the fever was breaking. “I heard anilam pudding ruined Snap and Kare’s wedding. I s’pose that has nothing to do with you.”

Finn felt Poe’s glare the second the words left his mouth. “What could I possibly have to do with that, huh?” The pilot asked the question even though he was tired of hearing Finn talk about it.

“I don’t know… spice runner…” he muttered.

“Oh. And I heard some kids were recently abducted. I suppose you don’t have anything to do with that.”

Finn blinked as he stirred the pot of stew that was on their fire. “What does that have to do with me?”

“I don’t know… stormtrooper…”

Finn sighed. He supposed he deserved that. “So your fever is broken now, is it?”

“Pft. What gave it away?”

Finn put the stuffed mushrooms on the edge of the fire where they could simmer until the rodent meat cooked fully. He had very low hopes for the flavor of both the soup and the rodent-shrooms. He grabbed the medpac and joined Poe on the bed. “Let me take a look.”

Poe sat up and let Finn remove the bandage on his head. He was afraid to ask Finn. He knew he was never easy to take care of when he was sick and feverish. But he wanted to know what Finn saw. “How bad was I?” Poe asked. He realized that maybe the question was too vague. “I mean, the fever. I don’t… handle being sick very well.”

Finn put the dirty bandage aside as he got out some cleaning wipes to clean up any oozing from the wound. “You cried a lot.”

Poe sighed, rolling his eyes at himself. Of course, he embarrassed himself like that in front of Finn. It’s not like Finn wasn’t fed up with him enough after the way he’d behaved on Kef Bir. “Sorry, you had to see that.”

“It was pretty scary, you know? I’d never seen you like that. You had me pretty worried,” Finn said. He took a generous amount of bacta ointment and spread it along the cut on Poe’s head. Poe made a pained sound as he leaned away from the touch. “Sorry. Sorry. I’m sorry,” Finn told Poe, using his other hand to hold close so he could finish the job. For a moment, he felt Poe go limp in his arms and was worried he’d fainted. “Poe, you alright?” he asked, craning his neck to look at Poe’s face.

Poe’s head felt fuzzy as a dull pain pushed against his skull. He felt a prolonged whine escape his throat as his head hung forward. He didn’t like how that felt. “Just get it over with. I don’t-I don’t like this.”

“Okay,” Finn said. And he wasted no time rewrapping Poe’s head before rubbing soothing circles across his back. “You should sleep.”

Poe nodded. “I agree.”

“But you have to eat and drink first.” The look Poe gave him was priceless. Clearly, the pilot thought Finn was about to force-feed him the rat-stuffed mushrooms before he let him sleep in peace. “Relax, princess. I’m not gonna make you eat rat soup for dinner.”

Poe was so shocked by the nickname that he barely registered the silver packet of food pellets in his hands. Did Finn really just… No. He must’ve heard him wrong. Poe looked at Finn with furrowed brows while he crunched down on a little pellet of food. He couldn’t just let that go. “What did you just call me?”

Finn couldn’t help but grin as he held out a cup of water and two pills for Poe. “Princess.”

“Hm… that’s what I thought…” Poe absentmindedly took the pills and swallowed them with the water. He took a few gulps of the water, still giving Finn a look of confusion. “Why?”

Finn shrugged. “Cause you’re pretty and I have to do everything for you,” he teased with a wink.

Poe could not help the furious blush that punished his poor cheeks. Did Finn just… Did he flirt? Was that a flirt? No. That wasn’t a flirt. Finn wouldn’t do that. Finn liked Rey. He wouldn’t flirt with Poe if he liked Rey. Finn wasn’t that kind of person. Poe scoffed and smacked Finn’s thigh. “Shut up.”

Finn chuckled. “I’m not really kidding, though. I did have to do just about every little thing for you as soon as we landed on this planet.”

“I’m handicapped,” Poe said defensively.

“At one point, you were tossing and turning in bed, throwing a bit fit. I was worried something was wrong. Turns out you just didn’t like the blanket,” Finn said. “Plus you’re really picky.”

Poe didn’t argue. He wasn’t sure there was any point. He knew he was picky. He didn’t mind being a princess. Coming from Finn it felt like a compliment, a term of endearment. “Leia was a princess,” he said absentmindedly watching the coals glow in the fireplace.

“And a General,” Finn reminded Poe with a nudge. “Just like you,” he added teasingly as he stood up from the bed and started to pack away the medpac. “You finish up the rest of the water and those pellets. Then sleep. Alright, Princess?”

Finn noticed the blush and faint smile on Poe’s face as he looked up at him in amusement. So Poe liked the nickname. He’d have to make it a regular thing between them now. Anything to make Poe blush like that again.

As Poe finished the packet of food pellets, he took enjoyment as he watched Finn put away the medpac and return to perfecting his probably disgusting rat soup and rodent-shrooms. He vaguely remembered his dad talking about the mushrooms on Hoth. “My dad says they’re a delicacy,” Poe said.

Finn looked away from the fire and at Poe curiously. “That so?” Poe nodded. “Your dad spend much time here?”

“Yeah. He did. During the first war, with my mother…” Poe trailed off, clearing his throat. He missed her. The chain that dangled over his chest, sparkled in the firelight with her light. “Actually, it’s common speculation that I was conceived here.”

“Speculation?” Finn blinked awkwardly, glancing at the bed. “Like  _ here  _ here?”

“Not  _ here  _ here,” Poe assured Finn. “Like here  _ Hoth _ -here. Trust me. I would never in a million years allow us to crashland anywhere near the place where it is said to have happened.”

Finn blinked at him again, silent for an awkward moment. “Did your parents tell where… it happened? Is that… normal? Do parents tell their kids-”

“No!” Poe blurted, facepalming. He made it weird. “No. I just overheard a conversation… or two… or three. No. It is not normal or healthy for parents to tell their kids…  _ that _ .”

“Okay. Cause I was about to be damn grateful. First Order never told us where we came from let alone where  _ it  _ happened,” Finn scoffed. “I might want a family and all but I don’t want to know  _ that _ .”

“Yeah. I hate this place,” Poe said. “The whole planet. It’s just one really big joke. Uncle L’ulo never let me live it down. Whenever we ran a mission in this system he’d always have to mention it. I hate this place. Did I-did I mention that already?”

“You did,” Finn said with a chuckle. “Wow… is that why you don’t visit home more often? Cause  _ stuff  _ happened there?”

Poe cringed. “Thanks. Thanks for that image. Now I will never go back there-”

“Sorry,” Finn said frantically. “I was just asking-”

“No, it’s okay,” Poe said. “But hey, just be grateful you never walked in on your parents trying to make a baby brother or sister for you to play with-”

“Force, Poe. I am so sorry you had to see that,” Finn said with a hand covering his mouth. “Never thought I would be grateful to not have parents.”

“Well, at least now you know what’s wrong with me. I was traumatized at a very young age,” Poe said dramatically.

Finn put a hand up to his heart. “Wow. I feel for baby Poe.”

Then Poe dropped the act and shrugged. “Eh. I actually didn’t care. I had no idea what was going on. I was five.”

Finn laughed and sputtered, shaking his head. “You still go home to visit your dad, don’t you?”

Poe shook his head sadly, looking down at the glass in his hands. “Not since the day after I met you. Haven’t gotten a chance to go home since then. We’ve been on the run for so long. I’ve hardly even talked to him.”

“Does he at least know you’re alive?” Finn asked.

“I contacted him after Exegol if that’s what you are asking,” Poe said. “I don’t think anyone knows we’re alive right now. If anyone has contacted him he’s… he’s probably…” Poe trailed off, feeling guilt eat away at his stomach. That was the first place guilt went. “I should’ve gone and seen him. I could’ve died during the battle of Exegol. I could die here, the very planet I was conceived on. How ironic is that?”

Finn wanted to assure Poe that they weren’t going to die. He knew they wouldn’t. He had a feeling they’d be out of that place in no time. But he wasn’t ready to have that discussion with Poe yet. Not when he could put it off for a little while longer.

“How about this? When we get off this planet, we take a break. You take me to Yavin. You visit your dad,” Finn offered. Poe had said many great things about his home, the fourth moon of Yavin. Finn would love to see it with his own eyes.

“You mean that?” Poe asked.

“Of course, I mean it,” Finn said. “It’ll be just like coming here with you except no one is sick or injured, it’s not freezing cold, and there’s food. And no crash-landing. Hopefully, I know it’s kinda your thing so I won’t rule it out-”

“I think I might try to hold off on crash-landing for a while,” Poe assured Finn. “But… yeah… if you really want to come home with me, I’d love to take you some time.”

Finn smiled as Poe set down his empty cup on the table beside the bed. “I really want to,” he told Poe.

Poe bit his lip to hide the smile threatening to break through. Go to Yavin? Just him and Finn? “You’ve got yourself a deal, General,” he said before laying down on his side. “Night, Finn.”

“Night, princess.” Poe rolled onto his side and faced away from Finn to hide the blush that was put on his face. Maybe Hoth wasn’t so bad after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas Eve and Happy Holidays!


	6. Day Six - Broken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poe’s fever is broken...

When Finn woke up to the sound of something clanking and water running. He blinked, finding he was still in front of the fireplace where he’d fallen asleep. Once the food was cooked, Finn helped himself to one of the stuffed mushrooms while he left the soup cool. There was an icebox in the kitchen that he had to go get ice for but he stored the goods in there. Then he passed out in front of the fire.

Finn twisted around to see Poe in the kitchen by the sink. He was rinsing out his cup and washing his hands. The man set the cup aside and bent down to splash water on his face. Finn bit his lip at the sight of Poe’s plump ass. That was the very ass that Snap had deemed ‘the greatest in the entire resistance’. Finn tried not to look most of the time. He didn’t want to get caught staring. But when an opportunity presented himself-itself. Itself, Finn!

Finn closed his eyes and looked away. Poe was not an opportunity. Poe was a person, a very gorgeous person… that Finn loved… more than anything. Best friend. Finn reminded himself that Poe was his best friend-

“Mmmmmmmm,” an annoyed groan interrupted Finn’s early morning, horny thoughts. Poe was still leaning over the sink, appearing to be washing his face.

“Poe,” Finn said, slowly sitting up and getting to his feet. He made his way to the kitchen with a look of concern. “Hey, you alright?” he asked the pilot.

Poe was hunched over the sink, pulling on his crispy, crunchy curls in frustration. “No. My hair,” he whined. Finn rested a hand on Poe’s bareback before he heard what the man said. He laughed and Poe stood up straight, looking a little crosseyed and out of it. “Help me.”

“Why don’t you use the fresher?” Finn suggested.

“I was already at the sink.”

Finn shook his head fondly as he urged Poe towards the fresher. “Come on. The warm water actually works in the refresher. I think you’ll like it a lot better.” Finn turned the knob in the fresher to hot and turned back to Poe. Every instinct of his was telling him to help Poe out of his clothes-er-pants(that’s all he was wearing) but his brain made him stay put. “Uh… I can take your pants. To wash them, I mean! I can wash them.” Finn cleared his throat. Too bad his brain couldn’t make him shut his mouth.

Poe looked down at his pants. They were filthy, covered in blood, and… black stuff. Poe assumed the black stuff had to be grease or oil from the ship. Finn wouldn’t be able to get those stains out without any detergent. But he could at least remove some of the sweat. The pilot removed the pants and handed them to Finn. “Thanks.”

Finn felt the blood rush to his face. Poe was naked. He forgot that underwear wasn’t a thing where Poe came from. “Yeah. No problem. You go get washed up,” Finn said, abruptly leaving the room so he didn’t stare. Poe’s body was beautiful and he knew if he looked he would not be able to look away.

Poe found Finn’s abrupt departure a bit off-putting, maybe even slightly offensive. Was seeing him naked really that bad? Or was Poe looking deeper than he should? Poe spun around and caught sight of himself in the mirror. “Damn…” he muttered to himself. He looked like shit. Pale and sickly and… was he dead inside?

He noticed a dark bruise on his shoulder that must’ve been from the crash. He turned slightly, checking for any other marks he’d missed. Above one of his elbows was a long, yellow, and black bruise that he poked at curiously. “Ow,” he complained.

“You okay?!” he heard Finn call from the other room.

“Fine!” he replied, putting his arm down and turning to look at the other side of his body. It looked like that side was good, with a few little bruises but nothing huge and eye-catching.

Poe reflexively flicked at the curl that fell in front of his eyes, making a disgusted face when the hair crunched. He needed to wash the dried blood from his hair.

Poe turned his head to look at the gaping wound in his hair and immediately regretted the choice. He instantly felt a pang of uneasiness in his stomach. Just looking at it, the wound began to throb and make him dizzy. “Mm,” he grunted as he forced himself to turn away and scratch that image from his brain.

He braced himself against the wall and breathed in slowly. He felt like he was going to throw up and then pass out. Poe shook his head as if the nausea and dizziness would know what it meant. He wasn’t going to ask Finn for help. Finn had already done so much. He did not need help taking a shower. He was a grown-ass man.

Poe’s pressed his palms against the sides of the fresher wall as he stepped in, one foot at a time. The warm water was comforting at least as it hit his skin and ran down his body. But the throbbing in the side of his head screamed so loud he felt like it was going to knock him over.

“Your shirt and towel are right here,” Finn’s voice said from behind. Poe spun around, startled that Finn had entered the room again. The spinning motion had Poe’s equilibrium thrown off and he had to cling to the fresher curtain for dear life. “Whoa, hey,” a pair of strong, warm arms said to him. “Poe, are you okay?”

Poe blinked his eyes open and the room was spinning far too much. He felt like he was getting seasick. Poe closed them and grunted. “That was a big mistake,” he muttered.

Finn felt the wetness of Poe’s body seeping through his clothes as he held him upright. He adjusted them so his arms were both under Poe’s shoulders and holding him up on his feet. “What was? What happened?”

“I looked,” Poe whimpered. “I looked in the mirror at my head and-” Poe swallowed and panted dramatically. “I’m fine. I just… feel like I’m gonna throw up and then pass out… and die,” he added.

Finn sighed, rubbing comforting circles on Poe’s back. He could feel the other man’s heart beating against his chest. Poe was panicking. He might not have realized it himself but he was having a panic attack. “You’re not going to die, Poe,” Finn assured him.

Finn pulled back to examine Poe’s wound. It easily half the size it had been the day he’d gotten it. “Poe… it’s fine. You should’ve seen it five days ago when you got it. It was massive and would not stop bleeding-” A whimper and a buckle from one of Poe’s knees told Finn that was the wrong thing to say. “Okay. Okay. Poe, stop thinking about your head. Just…”

Finn didn't know what to do. He’d received no training on what to do when someone he had feelings for was naked in a fresher with a hole in their head having a panic attack. What was he…

Finn found himself urging Poe towards the shower wall. It was all instinct at this point. “Just hold on to the wall for a minute, okay? I’m gonna help you-”

“No. I-I’m fine. I’m okay,” Poe said, voice cracking.

“Nice try but that wasn’t very convincing,” Finn quipped as he stepped back, peeling off his shirt and setting it on the bathroom counter next to the shirt he’d folded neatly for Poe.

Poe pressed his forehead against the wall, feeling as if he was going to topple over any moment and land on his already hurting head. “Finn…” he said desperately as the panic coursed through his veins. He didn’t want to fall and see the blood-not the blood.

“Just hold on to me, okay? I’m gonna help you,” Finn said, swooping an arm around Poe’s chest to hold some of his weight.

“No, it’s fine. I can-” Poe tried to protest but his brain was too fuzzy to stand let alone speak.

“Poe-”

“You don’t have to,” he told Finn, trying to back away but he was unable to hold himself steady. Poe grunted in annoyance with himself as he leaned against Finn heavily. He was so pathetic. Poe felt like an infant needing to be taken care of every waking hour. “I’m a grown man, Finn. I can take care of myself,” he said. His tone was a weak defense but at least he was trying to hold on to his dignity.

“Let me,” Finn said. He moved Poe’s hand away from his sides where the man was hugging himself self consciously and wrapped his arms around his shoulders. “I’m already all wet and I didn’t just take my clothes off for nothing, Princess.”

Poe made a choked noise at the nickname and looked at Finn as if he was realizing for the first time that they were both naked… and holding each other. Well… Poe was naked. Finn at least had underwear on but still… Poe made another choked sound that might have been nervous laughter. “That’s what she said.”

Finn chuckled and rolled his eyes. “Do you want your hair washed or not, Buddy?”

Poe huffed. “Buddy? What happened to calling me-” Poe gasped as he felt Finn’s hand in his hair, pulling his head back to run it under the water. “Ow,” Poe whined weakly, knees buckling momentarily as dizzying pain shot through his skull. “Finn, be careful,” his weak voice said.

Finn moved his hand away from Poe’s head for a moment, just letting the water wash over him. Poe bent over slightly and pressed his face against Finn’s chest, straining to keep himself standing. “Does it really hurt that bad?” Finn asked.

“I don’t know but I don’t like it,” Poe blurted.

“You don’t like how it feels or you don’t like the idea of it?”

“Both. I hate both,” Poe said, squeezing his eyes shut.

Finn’s sigh communicated his frustration and lack of any clue what to do with Poe. “Alright, well, I’m just going to wash your hair. That’s what I came in here to do. Is that okay with you?”

Poe panted against Finn’s chest, appearing hesitant. But then, “Just do it,” he said.

“I know how you are about your hair,” Finn assured Poe, ringing out one of Poe’s curls on the back of his head. He knew the hair would convince Poe to power through. Finn continued running his fingers through Poe’s curls, one strand at a time. One hand was pressed against Poe’s back, supporting him while the other worked to wash the dried blood and dirt out of Poe’s hair.

With each comforting stroke of his hair, Poe’s queasiness and anxiety eased. The idea of Finn taking care of him replaced the idea of a gaping wound in the side of his head and suddenly the pain wasn’t as bad. He relaxed into Finn’s touch, threading his own fingers into Finn’s hair. It felt so good to be taken care of when he felt so vulnerable and weak. And it felt even better that it was Finn.

Poe’s eyes blinked open when he felt completely relaxed. He thought maybe he was capable of doing the rest on his own. But as soon as he saw a reddish tinge to the water dripping down his arm, the panic set it again. He gasped and tightened his grip on Finn desperately. “Finn, is that blood? Why am I-”

“Shshsh. Poe, it’s the warm water,” Finn assured him as Poe’s body went rigid against him. He felt the man swaying again, unsteady and weak. Poe definitely had a problem with blood.

“I wanna be done now. Can I be done?” Poe asked, frantically stringing the words together so fast and slurred that they were barely decipherable. Finn’s sigh did not bring any comfort or reassurance to Poe. His stomach turned and he felt bile rising in his throat. “I-I think I’m gonna be sick. Please stop. I want to be done.”

The fresher turned off and a warm towel was wrapped around Poe’s shoulders to dry him off. After Poe’s shoulders were dry, Finn carefully dabbed at Poe’s face, head, and neck. Poe wasn’t sure why he wasn’t doing it himself. ...that’s a lie. He knew exactly why he was letting Finn do that. He loved it. His heart sang when Finn took care of him like that.

Finn wrapped the towel around Poe’s waist, ignoring the slight bulge on the front that demonstrated just how much Poe was enjoying being taken care of. Finn told himself that Poe was very clearly impaired if he found any of this arousing. But deep down he was praying to the force that being stuck on Hoth would spark something new in their friendship, possibly more than friendship.

Finn helped Poe pull the warm, dry shirt over Poe’s shoulders and button it up. “You should probably rest after that,” Finn said, urging him out of the fresher and towards the bed. “Will you eat something?” he asked once Poe was sitting up against the wall wrapped in blankets.

Poe sighed, thinking about it. His brain was a little slow. He had a suspicion that all of his blood rushed somewhere further south and his brain was lacking oxygen from that. But he could see the bright side in that: there was less blood to come from his head that way.

“How about I slap some bacta on that head of yours first,” Finn offered. He figured it would be better to bandage Poe’s head first and then feed him. Poe was less likely to regurgitate whatever he ate that way.

“Good plan,” Poe said.

**❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅**

Finn was quite pleased that Poe was willing to try the soup. While he was afraid of the mushrooms and the meat, he seemed to like the broth. So while Finn ate a small serving of the soup he’d reheated on fire, Poe sipped on the broth and tinkered with the salvaged ship parts.

Finn had done good with his salvage job, better than most salvagers. Finn had a perfectionist nature about him that tended to do things the right way or not at all. Sometimes it annoyed Poe to no end but there were times when Finn’s attention to detail and strong ability to focus paid off and this was one of them.

“Anything you can work with?” Finn asked, a mixture of hope and doubt in his voice.

Poe took another sip of the warm broth. It was good, not the best he’d ever had but certainly good for survival food. As long as he didn’t think about the rodents and mushrooms that made up the soup, he was able to consume it without wanting to vomit.

“I think I can figure something out,” Poe said. “But there is nothing to boost the signal. Unless…” Poe looked around the room, specifically at the wiring that ran up the wall next to the table and up to the ceiling. “Could you run outside and check to see if those wires connect to a booster?”

Finn nodded and continued to eat his soup. Poe looked at him expectantly, glancing at the door. “What? Right now?” Finn asked.

Poe sighed and slumped against the table. “No. No. It’s fine. Take your time. It’s not like we’re slowly running out of food and supplies or anything. Finn, this isn’t a vacation!”

Finn scrunched up his face and gestured to his cup of soup. “Mind if I finish eating first? It’ll only take a minute. Or is me eating for the first time today too much of a vacation?”

Poe sighed and leaned with his elbow against the table. “Sorry…” Poe glanced between Finn and his cup of soup. “I didn’t realize you hadn’t eaten yet.”

“Had to make sure Princess had his meal first,” Finn said. Up until that point, he’d only used that nickname as a term of endearment or amusement. But the way he said it sounded demeaning like he was annoyed. “How does your hair feel by the way?”

Poe shut his mouth. He didn’t mean to come off as ungrateful or impatient. But he was tired of Hoth. He wanted to go home, his real home on Yavin IV. He wanted to take Finn with him and introduce him to the Dameron Homestead. Finn would love the flavor of the fresh koyos that time of year.

Poe cleared his throat. “Better.”

“Good. I didn’t need you leaning over the sink, picking at it like that. I think it agitated it.” Finn punctuated the phrase but taking one last bite of his soup. He crunched down on something and blinked.

Poe’s eyes went wide. “Oh god…” He facepalmed and peeked through his fingers at Finn. “Was that a bone? That was a bone, wasn’t it?” Poe covered his mouth and pushed his cup of broth away from him.

Finn froze for a moment as if he was unsure what to do. He maintained that face and crunched down again. “No. It’s not a bone,” he fibbed, voice higher than he anticipated.

Poe gagged, not believing Finn for a second. “Ew. No. That was a bone. I’m not eating-” Poe’s words were cut off by another gag. “Not eating that.”

“It’s not a-”   
  
“Are you seriously still-Finn, you’re disgusting. How could you eat that?” Finn spit that bite back into the cup and Poe leaned over the side of the table where he dry-heaved violently. “Oh god. I’m going to starve to death, aren’t I?”

Finn laughed at Poe’s pain for the first time in days as he stood up, taking his and Poe’s cups to the kitchen. “You’re so dramatic!” he teased.

“I hate bones,” Poe whined. “And you were crunch-” Poe shuddered. “Your teeth! I could hear your teeth.” Finn turned around and playfully snapped his teeth at Poe, to which Poe went still. He wasn’t sure what Finn just did. Was he going feral or was he flirting? Between the playful bite and the new nickname, Poe felt like Finn might actually-no. He couldn’t let himself think that. Finn had feelings for Rey.

Finn slipped a jacket over his shoulders and stuffed his feet in his boots. “I’m gonna go look for that booster for ya’, Princess.”

Poe was sure if he was standing, the nickname alone would have made him swoon. Poe did everything he could to keep from smiling but when Finn talked to him like that it made him feel… special? Like maybe Finn liked him in a way that reciprocated Poe’s own feelings. “Thank you.”

Finn saw the rosy tint to Poe’s cheeks as he was leaving the room. He wasn’t sure what was provoking him to be so bold but he found himself winking as he swung the door open. Finn tried not to turn around and close the door too quickly after that. “Damn, Finn. Are you really doing this?” he muttered to himself.

**❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅**

Poe sat at the table dumbfounded. “Did he just…” He blinked, fidgeting with some of the wires connected to the power cell. “Nah. He just had something in his eye,” Poe told himself, chuckling dismissively. “He wouldn’t flirt with me.”

Poe laughed at himself while he tinkered around with the power cell and navcom absentmindedly. The more he thought about it, the more he doubted that. Finn had taken care of him… very thoroughly. He helped him stand up when he needed to pee. He dragged him through the snow after he vomited and passed out. He made sure he was comfortable while he had a fever. He fed him.

And the shower. Damn. Poe closed his eyes in embarrassment. At least, Finn was kind enough not to point out or draw attention to Poe’s delight after the shower. But he definitely noticed. Maybe that’s why Finn winked at him? 

A shock pulsed through Poe’s body and he convulsed very briefly. “Ah!” he shouted in pain as he pulled his hand away from the wires he’d been very irresponsibly handling while his mind was on a whole other planet. Poe held his hand defensively and glared at the power cell. “Ow!”

Finn burst through the doors with a panicked look on his face. “I heard you scream. Are you okay?”

Poe blinked, glancing between Finn, the door, and the power cell. “Yeah. I’m okay.” The cold air from outside reached Poe’s bare hands and he stuffed them in his armpits. “Shut the door. It’s cold.”

Finn spun around and closed the door, kicking off his boots and making his way over to Poe. “What happened?”

Poe looked up at the man towering over him sheepishly. “I shocked myself.”

Finn’s eyes could have burnt a hole in the power cell with the way he was glaring at it. He looked at Poe with his face full of concern and Poe nearly swooned again. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Poe swore. “I just scared myself.”

“Scared me too,” Finn said, smacking Poe on the shoulder gently.

“Hurt like a bitch, though,” Poe said, rubbing his chest. It wasn’t his first time being electrocuted. It always hurt his chest the most.

“Yeah. I know how that feels. Beebee-eight had to make sure of it.”

Poe’s heart ached for the little BB unit. He wished he’d been more firm when Rey asked to take him. Poe didn’t want the droid to go with her. It was bad enough that she had Finn’s heart… Though Poe was starting to doubt that now.

“That’s what happens when you steal a dead man’s jacket, Finn. Everybody knows that,” Poe teased, feeling a warm sensation in his belly. Was that hope? Poe hadn’t felt that in a while. He missed it.

“You weren’t dead.”

“Beebee-eight thought I was.” Finn shucked off the jacket and went to set it on the table but Poe stopped him. “Whoa Whoa Whoa. Hey. Not on the table. This is my workbench. Do you wanna get off this planet or not?”

Finn hesitated, a small smirked on his lips as he glanced around the room and shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s kinda cozy. I could get used to this.” He walked over to the kitchen where he set his coat on the counter and looked back at Poe. “I certainly don’t mind taking a break from the Resistance.”

Poe thought about it: him and Finn just staying cooped up in this little outpost forever, just the two of them. In some ways, it sounded like a nightmare. But in a lot of ways… it sounded like a dream come true. He knew what was bound to happen between them if they were stuck together for that long. At least, he knew what he hoped for.

Finn sat down across from him and rested his hands on the table, an open, unreadable expression on his face. “So what do you want me to do?” Finn asked.

Poe looked at the pieces of scraps and pondered. He wasn’t sure where to begin. He looked under the table at the wall that had the wires going to the booster outside. It looked like no one had left behind much to communicate with. Poe sat back up and grabbed a circuit board with wires sticking out of it. His brain was still a little slow and fuzzy from the concussion but he knew of at least one thing Finn could do.

“Strip it down,” he told Finn, setting the circuit board between them in the middle of the table.

Finn looked at Poe with dark eyes and a half of a smile. “I mean, I already did that for you once today. But, hey, whatever the Princess wants.”

Poe’s heart rate skyrocketed and he felt his face burning a bright shade of crimson. Now that had to be a flirt. Finn was definitely flirting and he was damn good. The only person who could ever leave Poe so flabbergasted was Leia Organa.

Poe managed to keep a pathetic squeak from escaping his throat as he nudged the circuit board closer to Finn. “I meant the wires.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas!


	7. Day Seven - Tension

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finn tries to get Poe to talk but...

Poe started his day with a warm cup of water that he crushed up some medicine into. He told himself it was like drinking hot tea but it lacked any sort of pleasant aroma or flavor.

When he woke up, Finn was pulling things out from under the bed, excited to find an old journal full of information about Hoth. The man laid on his stomach across the mattress, eagerly devouring the information.

Poe got comfortable at the table, ready to work on rigging up a device that could send out a signal for help. The navcom was glitching pretty badly. He’d have to mess around with the configuration to get it functioning well enough to send out a coherent signal.

As Poe tinkered with removing unnecessary pieces of wiring, he heard Finn laugh giddily from his place on the bed. Poe looked over at Finn to see the man shifting in anticipation. “What are you reading?” Poe asked.

“So… this guy, he basically journaled all of his findings as for scavenging for food.” Finn flipped around the flimsi book and displayed a hand-scrawled picture and pointed. “He left us a map!”

Poe’s lips quirked in amusement as Finn got excited over every small blessing. First the mushrooms, then the spices, now the map.

Finn flipped the book back around so he could look at it more closely. “About a mile from here, there is an oasis with root plants. And then over here there is a fishing hole. Poe… this is incredible!” He looked up from the book to find Poe holding back an amused smile. “What?”

“You are enjoying this way too much,” Poe said, though he was unable to keep the fondness out of his tone. Of course, Finn would find something to be happy about. Finn had spent so much of his life in the shittiest place in the galaxy. To him, even Hoth could be an oasis.

Finn sighed as he rolled out of the bed and walked towards Poe. “Do you need my help with anything?”

Poe seemed to think for a minute, glancing between Finn, the journal in his hand, and the pile of parts on the table. He could handle rigging something up on his own. For the time being, he was sort of just trying to figure out a plan. He didn’t need Finn’s help for that. He looked at the journal in Finn’s hands once more and felt his shoulders relax a little when he got an idea.

Poe smiled up at Finn. “Why don’t you go get us some food?”

Finn looked down at the journal and back at Poe hesitantly. “Are you sure? I mean, is it really a good idea for me to leave you here alone?”

Poe’s eyebrows shot up. “I think you being out there alone is more of a concern than me being in here alone. There are wampas out there. They’ll eat you alive.”

Finn frowned. “Wampas?” He pulled the book up and opened it, flipping through the pages to find anything about said wampas.

“Think Chewbacca only white and eats humans,” Poe explained. “But as long as you have your blaster, you should be okay. Stay away from any caves if you can.”

Finn could not deny that he was tired of being cooped up and wanted to go find the places mentioned in the journal. And he really wanted the food. “But… how will you know if I get eaten?”

“I’m more concerned about you freezing to death, buddy,” Poe said, absentmindedly taking apart the navcom as if he’d done so a million times already. “Just tell me which direction you’re going and how long you plan to be out. That way I knew when to start looking.”

Finn looked at Poe unsure. The fact that Poe was encouraging him to leave was… concerning. “Are you sure?”

“Don’t go far,” Poe said defensively. “Just see if you can find any food and then come back. I could really go for some sweet root. Or even bitter root. Anything but rodents and mushrooms.”

Finn’s shoulders slumped. “So that’s why you want me to go. You want me to get you food.”

“Well, I can’t go. I’m the one building a com device from scratch. Do you think you can do that?” Poe waited for a response from Finn other than the roll of the eyes he received but none came. “That’s what I thought. Besides, I thought you wanted to go explore.”

“Pft.” Finn was already stuffing his feet into his boots. One arm was through the sleeve of his coat. “Sure. And it has nothing to do with Princess being a picky eater.”

“You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to,” Poe said with a frown. “I never said you  _ had  _ to. I just said you  _ could _ .”

“Oh. I’m gonna do it,” Finn said, pulling the zipper up to his chin. He pointed a finger at Poe briefly “Not because I want to do it which I do. But because I don’t want to see what happens when Picky Princess doesn’t get her way-”

“ _ His _ way,” Poe snapped, immediately covering his mouth. Had he just admitted to accepting the nickname? Of course, he did. He loved it and he hated that he loved it. He put his hand down and cleared his throat, sending a stern look in Finn’s direction. “Princess is a ‘he’. Call him ‘he’.”

Finn blinked, stuffing his hands in his pockets and holding back a grin. “ _ His _ way,” Finn corrected. He stood there in silence, awaiting some kind of snarky response from Poe but he got none. Instead, he found a flustered Poe fidgeting with the inner makings of the navcom with a furious blush on his cheeks. Finn felt his own face warming up as he smiled to himself. He liked the way making Poe get all flustered made him feel.

Finn walked up to the table and opened up the journal to display the map to Poe. “I’m going here,” Finn said and pointed to a place on the map. He jugged his thumb behind himself. “That way. I expect to be gone for two hours at the most. If I’m not back by then, you can come looking for me.”

Poe looked up from the map at Finn, an indiscernible look in his eyes. The man’s cheeks were still looking a little warm. His eyes sparkled like a sea of glass. He glanced down towards Finn’s belt and bit his lip causing a warm stirring in Finn’s belly that he’d never really felt before. “Where’s your blaster?” Poe asked, brows furrowed in the slightest way.

Finn looked down at his belt where his holster usually held his blaster. So that was what Poe was looking at. Finn felt a little ridiculous for thinking that Poe wanted… the other thing. Maybe Finn did need to get out. He was going stir crazy cooped up in that circular abandoned outpost.

Finn walked over to the table beside the bed where he kept his blaster and holstered it securely. “I’ll try not to upset any wampas while I’m out there.”

“Stay away from the caves,” Poe reminded him as the man walked towards the door. “Wampas like ice caves.”

“I’ll stay away from the caves-”

“Finn,” Poe said, voice tired. Finn looked back to see Poe’s face contorted into one of concern. “Be careful.”

Finn sent Poe a nod, a more serious look than before when he’d been teasing the man. “I’ll be careful.”

**❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅**

When Finn returned, Poe was sitting at the table bench with his forehead pressed against the table between his elbows. Finn thrust the thermal blanket full of his findings onto the kitchen counter. He stood there expectantly, waiting for Poe to greet him but the man showed no sign of even being alive. “Hey,” Finn said.

Poe grunted and wobbled his head back and forth on the table. “My head hurts,” he complained, voice muffled into his lap.

Finn finished taking off his boots and coat before grabbing something from his makeshift sack and walking over to the table. He set down a maroon-colored root and Poe lifted his head. “I got that for you,” Finn said, pointing to the sweet root plant he’d dug up from the icy mud with his bare hands.

Poe squinted at the root and looked up at Finn to say, “Thanks.” The light from above the table, burned into his eyes unpleasantly and he shied away from looking up immediately.

Finn reached up above them and switched the light off. He sat next to Poe with a leg on either side of the bench. “Give your brain a break, Poe. You’ve been through a lot this week.”

Poe sighed, rubbing his eyes and swaying with fatigue. He needed to lean on something. Finn saw that as an opportunity, scooting himself closer to the pilot and pulling Poe into his chest. Poe immediately relaxed into the touch, allowing himself to slump against his friend as Finn rubbed circles into his back. Poe’s head fit just right underneath Finn’s chin, where Finn was careful not to put too much pressure on the man’s tender skull.

Poe let out a long sigh as he relaxed against Finn. As Finn rubbed slow circles into his back, he felt the tension leave his body in waves. What started out as relief turned into pleasure. Poe let out a low moan of pleasure and pressed his face into Finn’s chest.

“Feel better?” Finn asked.

“Mhm,” Poe moaned, sighing his warm breath into Finn’s neck. The sound triggered a warm feeling in Finn’s lower belly, one he wasn’t very familiar with. But with it came a dazed feeling of arousal. Slowly, his hand moved down Poe’s back to slide under Poe’s shirt and massage his hot skin. Poe shot up into a sitting position and hissed. “Cold. Your hands are cold, Finn.”

Finn pulled his hand back, feeling only a little bad about it. “Sorry,” he said. “My bad. Guess they haven’t warmed up yet.”

They shared a look. Poe seemed to be in less pain but he rubbed at his neck absentmindedly while he tried to read Finn’s face. Finn had a faint smile and tired eyes but in those eyes, if Poe was not mistaken, he could see wonderment. He wondered what that was all about.

Poe turned around and lifted a leg around the bench so he was straddling it and facing away from Finn. He patted his own upper back and glanced at Finn expectantly. “Do my neck.”

Finn bit back a grin unsuccessfully as he scooted closer to Poe. “So bossy,” he teased, gently placing his hands on the back of Poe’s shoulders.

Poe sighed in annoyance at the remark. “You don’t have to if you don’t-”

“It’s okay, Princess. I’ve got you-” Finn’s words were cut off by a loud moan from Poe’s throat. “Wow. You are really tight,” Finn said, kneading into Poe’s tense muscles.

Poe tried not to moan again but Finn’s fingers were way too good at working into him-er-his muscles. Finn’s fingers were good at working into his tight muscles. “Oh. Yes, I am. So tight,” Poe said, pushing back into Finn’s fingers. “Oh, my stars, Finn. Oh. That’s good.”

Finn let out a quiet laugh of excitement as he scooted closer to Poe, almost flat against his back. “Glad I make you feel so good, Princess.” It took everything in Finn’s power, not to lean forward and suck on the skin of that man’s precious neck. Finn had never felt such an intense desire for something before.

Poe wanted to beg Finn not to talk to him like that but he enjoyed it too much to deprive himself of that. He didn’t know Finn could be so dirty. Poe wondered if Finn was doing that on purpose or if he was even aware of himself being so provocative. “Damn,” Poe cursed, leaning forward, slightly away from the touch.

If Finn wasn’t intentionally trying to turn him on, then Poe was being a creep. If he let himself get all worked up and horny over this, it would not be appropriate. He’d already made a fool of himself in the shower. Poe didn’t need to put Finn through that awkwardness again.

“You good?” Finn asked, noticing Poe start to pull away. He hoped he wasn’t pushing any boundaries. He was sort of aware of the things he was saying. He knew that they might be construed as… mildly sexual. Okay, so many he was hitting on Poe again. But being cooped up in a very tiny outpost for days made it hard for Finn to resist Poe any longer. What better opportunity to find out if there was a mutual attraction.

“Yeah,” Poe said. Though he really wanted more. His neck and shoulders were still a little tight and sore. But he’d rather his muscles be tight than his pants. He turned around, both legs on the outside of the bench now so he faced the fire. He looked at Finn. “Thanks, buddy.”

“No, problem,” Finn said. They sat there for a moment in silence. “So are you starting to feel better? I mean… aside from the neck and…” he gestured to his head.

Poe blinked. “If you don’t mean my head or my neck, then what do you mean?”

“Well, I mean… emotionally?” Finn asked.

“Emotionally?” Poe asked, immediately tensing back up. It was as if the tension Finn had worked out was back in an instant. “What do you mean? I’m fine-”

“Poe, I’m not trying to force you into talking-”

“There’s nothing to talk about,” Poe insisted, voice going rigid and high pitched. Finn sent him a look of disapproval that Poe didn’t care for one bit. Poe took a moment to intentionally loosen his shoulders and relax his voice. “I’m fine. There’s nothing to talk about.”

“Poe…”

“I said-”

“I know what you said, Poe, but the things you were saying during your delirium tell me that you clearly have some things weighing heavy on you,” Finn explained. “I know we didn’t have much time to mourn their deaths: Snap and Leia. And if you want to talk about it, I’m here.”

Poe sighed. Finn was just trying to be helpful but it made him uncomfortable. He didn’t want to talk or even think about them. Those thoughts made him feel too much.

“And I think we both said some things the other day that might have… been hurtful towards each other,” Finn said awkwardly, shifting in his own discomfort. “Um… and, the secrets… I think we need to talk-”

“Really, Finn?” Poe blurted, turning to glare at the other man, brows knit together tightly. His eyes shimmered glossy, projecting the hurt emanating from his heart. “Are you ever going to let that go?”

Finn looked at Poe as if the other man had grown a second head. “What?” he asked, hurt by the harshness of Poe’s tone.

“Ya’ know, I never throw the fact that you were a stormtrooper in your face. It’s pretty shitty of you to keep bringing up the ‘spice runner’ thing.”

Finn’s eyes widened in realization. That wasn’t what he was talking about. He meant his own secret. He needed to talk to Poe about his feelings, the force, and otherwise. “Poe-”

“I was sixteen years old, Finn! I was only with them for a year. Are you really holding that against me?-”

“Poe, will you listen-”

“No, I don’t want to listen to you,” Poe said standing up from the bench. He briskly walked towards the fresher he turned around to glare at Finn. “I’ve heard enough,” he said and slammed the door shut.

Finn flinched back and furrowed his brows in the direction of the fresher. “Why do you have to be so dramatic?” he asked himself, not thinking Poe would hear through the door.

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I was a Spice Runner,” Poe shouted from inside the fresher. The sound of things slamming around in the fresher could be heard from where Finn was still sitting, soaking in his frustration with Poe’s dramatics.

Finn was discouraged by Poe’s outburst. He was frustrated too but he wasn’t sure he could be mad about it. He might have been a little pushy about the spice runner thing for a while there. It didn’t actually matter to him. He just… he wanted to know Poe better and when something like that popped up out of nowhere it was an unpleasant surprise. Finn wanted to know everything about Poe.

Finn also knew Poe was dealing with a lot on top of Finn’s prying about the spice running. He’d lost two of the most important people in his life recently and didn’t have time to mourn. Then he got a severe head injury and a fever and was left stranded on an ice planet for… were they on day six? Seven? Finn had lost count.

Finn walked over to the fresher and gently knocked. “Poe, can we talk, please?”

No response.

Finn sighed. “Look, I’m sorry that I’ve been bugging you about the spice runner thing. But that wasn’t-” Finn was cut off by the sound of the fresher running. “Are you even listening?”

No response.

“Fine,” Finn mumbled to himself, taking a step back from the door and bumping into the kitchen counter. His elbow bumped some of the food he’d gathered and stored in the sack. Perhaps he could coax Poe out of his mood with some food.

Finn retrieved the journal that had been left behind by some unnamed man that Poe knew to see if there happened to be any recipes in it. Who knew how long they would be there for? He might as well figure out the best way to enjoy the food available to them, right? Besides, Finn may or may not enjoy cooking.

After chopping up the herbs and tubers he’d gathered, Finn brought them to the fireplace where a hot pan was waiting. He greased the pan using a layer of fat from the soup he’d made a few days earlier. He threw in the herbs first, letting the fresh smell permeate the air. Then he threw in the tubers, sweet and bitter roots, and some water. He covered it up and left it to sit while he carved out a bird he’d blasted.

Finn perched another, smaller pan over the coals where he cooked the bird. He covered it in the questionable paprika and catabar spices left behind. While he waited, he kept glancing back at the fresher. The water was still running. He was worried about Poe. Had he gotten dizzy and fallen?

Finn had to check. If Poe died in the fresher while he was cooking, he would never forgive himself. He got up and knocked on the door. “Poe?” he asked. He waited and heard no response. He knocked again and turned the knob to peak in. The fresher was empty and he didn’t see Poe so he opened the door the rest of the way. He bumped into something.

When Finn saw the body on the floor he gasped, panic immediately filling his chest. But then he noticed the way Poe’s head was nestled into a towel like a pillow. And the pilot had curled up underneath another towel as if it were a blanket. He let out a sigh of amusement as he shut off the water. “Do you have any idea how much water you just wasted?” he said to the sleeping man on the floor.

Now that the water was off, Finn could hear a faint snore coming from Poe’s nose. He chuckled and crouched down to wake the man up. But seeing the sleeping man up close, he didn’t have it in him to wake him up. So instead, scooped him up in his arms, only earning a faint grumble as he was carried to the bed.

Finn laid him down, watching as the pilot stirred. He pulled the blankets over him and brushed back Poe’s curls to place a lingering kiss on the pilot’s forehead. “Night, Princess. We’ll talk in the morning.”


	8. Day Eight - Communication

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finn finally gets Poe to talk...

Finn woke up to a sharp pain in his solar plexus, gasping for air. He sat up, cursing. “Kriff, Poe,” he complained. He knew the other man was to blame. That was what he got for sleeping in the same bed as him. He was still traumatized from the last time but he wanted to give it a shot since Poe was feeling better.

Besides, Poe looked really soft in his sleep. Finn may or may not have watched Poe as he was falling asleep next to him. That wasn’t creepy, right?

Finn was startled when he heard a sob break through the air. He looked to his side to see Poe tossing and turning uncomfortably in the bed. Finn’s worry was immediately for Poe’s physically being. He thought maybe the fever was back. But when he pressed his hand against Poe’s forehead, only to get it batted away, Poe’s forehead felt normal.

“Nono, Snap.”

Finn realized that Poe was having a nightmare.

A gasp turned into a whimper as Poe kicked. “Nonononononono. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” Poe panted, turning his head back and forth. “I’m sorry. I thought we could do it. I thought we could-” Poe’s words were strangled by a sob. “I’m sorry, Leia. I thought I could do it.”

“Poe,” Finn said, brushing the man’s hair back, trying to coax him into reality.

“Finn.”

“Yeah. It’s me, Poe.”

“Finn, I need you,” Poe cried.

Finn gently shook Poe’s shoulder. “Poe, you’re having a nightmare. You need to wake up.”

“I can’t do it,” Poe whimpered, shaking his head, resisting being woken up. “I can’t do it without you.”

“Poe,” Finn said, jerking the man’s body onto his side to face him. “Wake up,” he demanded firmly. He tried to hold Poe’s chin up, watching for those glossy eyes to look up at him. But Poe buried himself into Finn’s chest, clinging onto the man for dear life while he sobbed himself back to sleep.

**❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅**

Poe sat at the table, tinkering away at the makeshift com system he was determined to fix so they could get off that wretched planet. After the nightmare, he fell back asleep for a very short time. He woke up with his face stuffed in Finn’s chest. Before Finn could bid him a good morning, Poe was on his feet to use the fresher and work on the coms.

Finn gave him some time to himself. Poe wasn’t much of a morning person. He always needed a bit of space when he woke up, especially, if he didn’t get his caf which he hadn’t had in a week and a half since they’d been on hoth.

Finn needed a minute to himself too anyway. He wasn’t sure how to bring anything up to Poe after the way he’d reacted the night before or the nightmares. Finn wondered if Poe just wasn’t ready to talk… or if Finn wasn’t the one Poe wanted to talk to.

Finn decided to sit next to Poe, to cups of hot bitterroot tea. He slid one close to Poe. He remembered Leia sharing her bitterroot tea with Poe on those late nights when neither of them could sleep. Finn had watched and listened from afar more than once. But he never wanted to interrupt their special moments. Poe and Leia really had something special.

_ “I’m not Leia.” _ __  
  


_ “That’s for damn sure.” _

Finn looked down at his cup of tea, mulling over what he’d said back on Kef Bir. Maybe Poe wasn’t ready to talk but he needed to tell Poe something. He needed to explain.

“S’good,” Poe said, pulling Finn from his thoughts. He took a second sip of the drink and set it back down. He cleared his throat and looked at Finn hesitantly. “Thank you.” The tentative tone implied that he was thankful for more than the tea.

Finn nodded, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. “Poe, I need to talk to you about something,” he said, unable to keep the uneasy feeling in his stomach at bay.

Poe seemed to pick up on his uneasiness, turning away slightly to focus on building the coms. “Sure. Go ahead. I’m all ears.”

Finn opened his mouth to speak but… he just couldn’t do this if Poe wasn’t giving him his full attention. He couldn’t do it if Poe wasn’t looking at him. “Can you just…” Finn removed the beat-up com part from Poe’s hand and set it away from them. He rested a hand on Poe’s knee. “Can you look at me for a minute? This is something I really want you to hear, okay?”

Poe looked at Finn, a look of anticipation and shock at how serious Finn was being. What could he possibly have to say to him this early in the day? “I’m listening,” Poe said quietly, clearing his throat. His head turned away instinctively, looking at the com parts again but he closed his eyes and forced himself to look at Finn. “I’m listening,” he repeated.

Finn waited for Poe’s focus to narrow in on him, to shut out the mess of a com on the table for just a minute so Finn could tell him. “I’m sorry about what I said on Kef Bir.” Finn glanced down for a second, finding it hard to look into Poe’s eyes, afraid of seeing any hurt there that was caused by him. “Especially for the way I said it. I think it made what I was trying to say sound like something else and I wasn’t trying to hurt you. I was just trying to tell you something… without actually telling you.”

Poe seemed to be fully engaged in listening now. He was all ears, openly listening to what Finn was trying to say. But how was he supposed to know what Finn was trying to say if he wasn’t actually going to say it? “Well, buddy. I’m not a mind reader. Are you going to tell me now?”

Finn sighed, biting his lip anxiously. “I wanted to talk to Rey about it first.-”

“It’s what you were going to tell Rey?” Poe blurted.

“...yeah.”

“I think I know what you were going to tell her,” Poe said guiltily.

Finn raised his eyebrows, curious what Poe was thinking this whole time. “Really? And what is that?”

“Well…” Poe became instantly uncomfortable and awkward. “That you love her… maybe. Maybe!”

“Poe, are you-”

“I said ‘maybe-”

“You thought I was going to tell Rey that I loved her?” Finn asked, confusion and shock showing on his face just as much as in his tone.

“Well, what else could it be? You were being sucked into a sandpit thinking you were going to die-”

“I knew we weren’t going to die.”

“Pft. Oh really? And how would you know that?”

“I had a feeling.”

“A feeling?”

“Yes, Poe. A feeling. That’s what I’m talking about. I’ve been having these feelings about things that have been getting stronger and-and I just feel like maybe it might have something to do with the Force.”

“The Force?!”

"Yes. The Force!" Finn said slamming his fist on the table. Poe flinched very slightly, covering it up by taking a sip of the tea. Finn huffed. "Poe!"

Poe set the cup down and hummed very nonchalant as he processed the information. "That's… That's…" Poe had no words. He didn't know what it was. At least it meant Finn wasn’t in love with Rey. "That's good… I think."

Finn blinked. "That's all you have to say about it?" He sounded disappointed.

Poe looked at Finn expectantly. "Well, I don't know what else to say. I'm speechless." He took another drink of the tea just to do something. The tea wasn't that great. He never liked bitterroot tea but now it reminded him of Leia. "You think you're Force Sensitive? Like a Jedi?"

Finn nodded. "Yeah. Maybe. I mean… yeah. I do. I'm pretty sure. I think."

Poe set the cup down one last time before leaning towards Finn, a look of wonderment. “Like what kind of feelings?” he asked curiously.

Finn bit his lip and sat back a little with a sigh. So maybe telling Poe was easier than he thought. “Well… it’s like I can sense things before they happen. On our way out here I knew something was wrong. I could feel it. A-and I knew something was wrong with Rey a few days ago. It’s like I could feel her being pulled into the darkness. I felt her-” Finn looked down and picked at a sliver on the bench. He wondered briefly where the wood had come from. He hadn’t seen any trees on Hoth. “I felt her die, Poe.”

“You felt Rey die?” Poe asked, blinking unsure as Finn looked back up to him.

“And Leia. I felt Leia die. I knew she died while we were on Kef Bir but I-I didn’t know how to tell you. I’m sorry,” Finn said. “I think I had a feeling that it was going to happen but I didn’t know-”

“Why did you feel like you couldn’t talk to me about any of this?” Poe asked. If Finn looked deep he could see the hurt in his eyes. Poe wanted Finn to feel comfortable talking to him about things. Poe didn’t like Finn keeping things from him. As much as Finn was irritated by Poe not being very transparent about the Spice Running thing, Poe deserved a chance to explain himself.

“I was afraid of how you’d react,” Finn said. “I didn’t want you to be afraid of me or feel like it was somehow your responsibility. I just… I waited too long to tell anyone. I wanted to talk to Leia about it but there was never a good time and by the time I realized she was…” Finn pinched the bridge of his nose, pushing back the tears forming in his eyes. “We were on Pasana when I realized we weren’t going to see her again and I could feel Rey slowly slipping away. I just had to tell someone before it was too late-”

“But it couldn’t be me,” Poe said, unable to keep the hurt out of his tone. “Cause you don’t trust me? What is it, Finn?”

“I didn’t want to hurt you,” Finn tried to explain. “If you knew the feelings I was having about Leia and Rey, I don’t think you would’ve been far behind them. I know you, Poe. You would’ve done something-”

“Something stupid?” Poe finished.

“That’s not what I was going to say,” Finn pleaded.

Poe sighed and shook his head, closing his eyes to calm himself down a bit. “You’re probably right though,” he admitted. “If you had told me Leia was going to die, I would’ve done something to try and stop it.”

“So you understand why I couldn’t tell you?”

“Yeah, I understand why you couldn’t tell me about Leia dying and Rey being pulled away from the light but I still don’t understand why you couldn’t tell me about the Force. You don’t trust me?”

“I don’t trust myself,” Finn blurted. “How was I going to explain why I thought I was Force Sensitive without telling you about Leia or Rey?”

“You don’t have to explain yourself to me like that, Finn. I trust you,” Poe said, voice high with tension as he tried to get his point across. “When you tell me things, I am going to trust you. But I don’t like it when you keep something from me. It hurts that trust. That’s what really scares me, Finn.”

“I’m sorry, Poe,” Finn said. He opened his mouth to say more but… he just wasn’t sure what he could say. He didn’t want to make any excuses for himself. He’d already explained himself. “Are you still mad at me?”

Poe shook his head. He could read the stiffness in Finn’s features as uneasiness. It felt wrong for things to be like that between them. “Come here, buddy,” Poe said, leaning towards Finn and wrapping his arms around the man.

Finn gently placed his warm hands on Poe’s bag as they hugged each other. “I miss her too, Poe,” Finn blurted, rubbing a reassuring hand along Poe’s back. “I know I wasn’t as close to her as you were but I still miss her a lot.” Finn pulled back to look Poe in the eyes but Poe pushed forward, pressing his face into Finn’s shoulder. His grip tightened around Finn.

Poe sniffled against Finn’s shoulder, nodding. “Me too.”

“You’re not doing it alone, Poe,” Finn said, wrapping Poe up tight. “Leia had some astronomical shoes to fill but you’re not doing it by yourself. You have me and Rey and all of our friends-”

“Actually right now I only have you,” Poe corrected.

“I don’t mean right now, here on Hoth. I mean-Poe, you know what I-”

“I know what you mean-”

“Then why did you have to-”

“Shshshshsh,” Poe hissed. “Just stop talking. I don’t want to talk anymore.”

“Okay,” Finn resigned. He leaned against Poe and took comfort in the familiar feeling of his friend. After a moment, Poe pulled back, wiping at his eyes. "If you don't want to talk, then what are you going to do?" he asked the pilot.

Poe sat back and sighed, glancing down at Finn’s tempting lips. So Finn wasn't in love with Rey. Poe felt a hopeful grin begin to break out on his face. He had to bite his lip to hide it but that only drew attention. He saw Finn’s eyes flick down to his lip and he had to look away as his heart stuttered. He cleared his throat and steeled himself turning towards the table. "I'm going to fix the coms," he said, more to himself than Finn.

Finn wasn’t sure why Poe was pretending that didn't just happen. "Anything I can help you with?"

Poe side-eyed Finn, pursing his lips in thought. "Uh… you could make breakfast?" Poe offered. He knew Finn wanted to feel useful.

Finn smiled and huffed. "I meant with the coms."

Poe looked at Finn guiltily. He didn't particularly want Finn's help with that. He didn't need a backseat pilot. "Uh. You can-do you want to help with that? I mean are you sure?" he stuttered awkwardly. 

Finn sighed as he got to his feet. So Poe didn’t want his help then. "No. You're right. You're not you when you're hungry. I better make you something to eat."

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” Finn said, making his way over to the kitchen area leaving Poe to prepare his workspace at the table. There Finn was to cater to his every need again. “Princess,” mumbled under his breath.

“I heard that,” Poe said.

“I know,” Finn said, peering back at Poe with a smirk. He liked taking care of Poe. He liked making him blush even more. When Poe looked down at the com pieces in his hands to hide the pinkish color forming on his cheeks, Finn smiled. He wondered how long that nickname was going to do that to Poe.

Finn prepared some sweetroot for Poe before retiring back to the bed to read the journal he’d found. While Poe tinkered away at the coms, he read about this person’s findings during their time on Hoth. “Did you know this person?” Finn asked curiously.

Poe’s attention was easy to steal. He seemed unfocused and distracted. That wasn’t that unusual for Poe. He either had a hard time focusing on a task or he ended up hyper-focused on something and lost track of time. There was no in-between with him. “Huh?”

Finn felt bad. Maybe he shouldn’t be distracting him while he was trying to work. He held up the journal anyway. “Did you know this person?” he asked. Maybe it was a long shot question. He supposed anyone could have written this and left it there.

“Oh! Yeah. Um. Sort of,” Poe said, throw his legs over the other side of the bench, seemingly glad to have something to take his mind off of the com system he was trying to rig. It hurt his brain to think about it. “Lor San Tekka. Do you remember the man that Ren executed on Jakku?”

Finn’s expression went solemn as he nodded. “Yeah. I do. He was your friend?”

Poe cringed and shook his head. “Not exactly. But I did know him. He was the man with the map to Luke Skywalker. I’d met him before. Good man. It’s a shame he died the way he did. But he’d pretty much seen the entire galaxy. More than most of us will ever be able to say.”

Finn sat up on the bed, leaning on his arm and tilting his head. “The whole galaxy?” Poe nodded. “Really?”

“Most of it,” Poe said.

Finn whistled, impressed. “Wow. That’s amazing,” he said. He was almost jealous of the man. “I hope I can do that someday.”

“Maybe you can,” Poe offered. He stood up and walked over to the bed. He sat next to Finn. Apparently, he had given up on his task. Or forgotten. He laid back and let out a sigh.

“What was he doing here?” Finn asked. “Long enough to write all this?”

“He went everywhere. He studied places. He must’ve left that here in case someone got stranded and needed a bit of guidance,” Poe said. At least, that is what he assumed. He wasn’t sure if that journal was actually Lor San Tekka’s but he knew the man had been in this outpost.

“Well, that was nice of him,” Finn said. “Lucky I found it under the bed.”

“Nice job, buddy,” Poe said, patting Finn on the knee. He yawned and closed his eyes. He let out a tired groan. “I’m sleepy.”

Finn raised his eyebrows. “Really? Cause it wasn’t that long ago that we woke up.”

“Brain is tired,” Poe mumbled. “Need a break.”

Finn looked down at the tired man. He brushed back the hair on Poe’s forehead, earning a pair of questioning eyes on him.  _ Don’t say it, Finn. Don’t say it. _ “Okay, Princess.” The satisfaction when Poe closed his eyes and suppressed a smile from showing on those rosy cheeks. Finn chuckled to himself in amusement.

The rest of the day wasn’t much different. Poe would get a few minutes of work in on the com system before needing a break. Finn wasn’t sure if it was just an attention span thing or if it was because of the concussion. Maybe it was both. But all he could really do was be his moral support at the point. And make sure he ate. Poe forgot to eat on a normal day. He needed extra reminders on days when he couldn’t stay focused on anything. Fin would remind him as many times as he needed to. Sooner or later Poe would finish the coms.


	9. Day Nine - Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just when they’re able to get the com working, a storm comes in...

Poe had been up since the crack of dawn, working himself to the bone. Unlike the day before, he was focused. Poe’s attention was completely on fixing the coms. Finn had to physically force him to take a break and eat and drink before letting him get back to it.

Poe said he would finish in no time. But he needed Finn to go adjust the antenna. That’s why Finn was carefully working his way across the icy roof towards the dish. He checked the wiring before adjusting it slightly. “Did you get that?!” he shouted.

The door had been left open in hopes that they would be able to hear each other shouting. The wind was starting to pick up a bit though so Finn could barely hear Poe’s response.

“What?!”

He waited and a moment later he could see Poe standing out on the ice below him. A hand was above his brows to block the sun. He spun around and appeared to do some thinking before pointing up at Finn and saying, “Turn it that way!”

Finn adjusted the dish slightly.

“No! The other way!”

Finn adjusted it accordingly as best he could and slipped down to his knees. “Ow.”

Poe threw a hand over his mouth and his shoulder tensed up in surprise. “Finn, are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I’m still young, you know?!” he teased.

Poe glared. “Shut up and move it this way.” Just as Finn started to spin the antenna towards Poe, the pilot shouted up at him and panicked. “Don’t fall!”

Finn looked down at Poe unimpressed. “I’m not going to fall.”

“You just did!”

Finn sighed and rolled his eyes, continuing to make adjustments to the antenna when his eyes caught something in the distance. The sky looked dark and grim. It looked like a storm was coming in. He wondered if what he was doing would do them any good once the storm hit. He stood up carefully. “Hey, Poe-”

Slip!

In an instant, Finn was sliding down the slightly sloped roof towards the ground and there was nothing he could do to stop himself.

“Finn!”

Finn flew off the edge of the roof and landed flat on his back. The landing on the hard ice floor knocked the wind out of him. He coughed and shifted slightly, grunting when a pair of knees slid into his side.

“Finn, don’t move! Don’t move!” Poe said, hands going to the sides of Finn’s face. “Are you okay? Can you hear me? Can you see me? Did you hit your head? It didn’t look like you hit your head-”

“Poe,-” Finn tried to silence the man, taking his hands and pulling them away.

“I don’t see any blood so that is a good sign,” Poe said.

“Poe,” Finn said more firmly, sighing in relief when Poe finally shut up. He wiggled his toes and gave lifting his head a try. “I’m fine.”

Poe remained hovering over Finn, his necklace dangling between them. For a moment both of them looked down at it swaying in the wind before their eyes met again. Finn wasn’t sure if it was just the cold but he could swear Poe was blushing again, his cheeks burning that rosy pink. “Good,” Poe said, voice mixing with the wind.

Finn glanced up at the roof before settling an unamused gaze on Poe. “Please tell me I don’t have to go back up there again.”

Poe sat up a little, examining the antenna from the ground. He squinted almost looking unsatisfied but when he looked back down at Finn and shrugged. “It’ll have to do.”

“Good,” Finn said, slowly sitting up, feeling something wet running down the back of his throat. The fall must’ve knocked his sinuses clear. Poe helped Finn sit up. Then he stood and offered Finn a hand. “Cause it looks like a storm is coming in.” Finn pulled himself up to his feet using Poe as an anchor and felt something in his back rebel. “Ah,” he winced.

“What?” Finn’s pained expression practically went unnoticed by Poe as the pilot brushed past him to see those angry clouds for himself. “Dammit! We don’t have a lot of time,” Poe said, hurrying back into the outpost building.

Finn sighed, a hand rubbing at the knot that was forming in his lower back. He limped towards the door. “Fine. It’s fine. I don’t need help. I’m fine,” he said to himself as he made his way inside.

Poe was flipping through frequencies, listening for something. Finn didn’t know what for. He made his way to the bed and flopped down, grunting in pain. His back was screaming.

“Mayday. Mayday. Does anybody copy?”

Finn turned his head to see Poe speaking into the headset Finn had scoured that trashed ship for. He was glad he had. Poe said if he hadn’t they would not have had anything to record a message with.

_ “Mayday. Mayday. Does anybody copy?”  _ The radio speakers echoed Poe’s voice back at them.

“Dammit,” said Poe, making a ruckus at the table. He shoved a few things around, searching for something. “It’s like shouting into a giant echo chamber. Something-I did something wrong.”

“Why would it do that?” Finn asked, sitting up. He was curious. Also, maybe Poe had something he needed his help with.

“I don’t… I don’t know,” Poe said, pressing his hands up against his skull as he tried to think. “I don’t… know.”

Finn stood up, ignoring the tension in his lower back as he walked over to Poe. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

Poe shook his head. “No. That storm is coming in. I think it might be interfering. Our best bet is to record a distress signal and send it out in hopes that our friends hear it and not our enemies. We won’t be able to directly contact anyone in time to hear back from them before the storm hits.”

Finn sat down across from Poe. “Maybe we send out a coded message then.”

Poe blinked. “That’s brilliant, Finn! You mean, to Jannah.”

“Exactly.”

“Apparently, your code language isn’t completely useless after all,” Poe blurted. Finn pursed his lips in unamusement and Poe snapped his mouth shut. “Uh… I mean, not useless.-”

“Don’t try to cover it up, Poe,” Finn said.

“I thought my name was Sunshine,” Poe retorted, crossing his arms. He scoffed. “Worst codename ever.”

Finn rolled his eyes. “It’s just a damn codename, Poe.”

“But come on! You get to be Starbird and I am Sunshine?!?!”

“Fine,” Finn said, he pulled the headset away from Poe. “I’ll figure something else out. I won’t use Sunshine.” Poe furrowed his brows about to protest but Finn spoke over him. “Tell me when.”

“Hold on. What are you going to say?” Poe asked.

“That you and I are stranded on Hoth. Come help! Is that sufficient?”

“Don’t say we’re on Hoth,” Poe said. “They’ll be able to track the distress signal. Just tell them that we’re stranded and alive. When they get the signal, they can contact us for more specific coordinates once they are in the system.”

“Fine,” Finn said, placing the headset over his ears and adjusting the mic. “Tell me when.” Poe tinkered with the navcom before giving Finn a thumbs up. Finn cleared his throat. “Foxtail, this is Starbird. We made it home but the Princess is cold here and is requesting a warmer place to stay. Foxtail, if you could send a chaperone for her highness, that would be ideal seeing as our speeder is giving us troubles. Thank you. Starbird out.” Finn nodded to Poe to signal that he was finished and took off his headset.

“A bit wordy,” Poe critiqued.

Finn shrugged. “I think it got the message across. How did you like your new codename, General? It’s more fitting than ‘Sunshine’.”

“You really like calling me that, don’t you?”

“You like it when I call you that,  _ Princess _ ,” Finn teased.

“Oh no,” Poe said, blinking down at the navcom screen. He looked up at Finn with wide eyes. “It was still recording.” They stared at each other in silence until Finn laughed, shaking his head. Poe shrugged. “I don’t think that mic picked it up. S’fine.” Poe pressed the button that would send out the signal and let out a sigh. “It’ll take a few minutes for it to send. Hopefully, it’ll be sent before the storm hits us.”

“Let’s hope,” Finn agrees, smiling at Poe in amusement.

“What?”

“Nothing,” Finn said with a shrug. He slowly walked back towards the fresher, pointing back with his thumb. “I’m gonna hop in the fresher. Maybe by the time I’m finished that distress call will be sent out.”

Poe blinked, watching Finn slowly back off. “Okay.”

“Kay.” And Finn was gone. The fresher door closed and the sound of water running could be heard from where Poe was sitting. Poe fidgeted with the coms, watching as the screen beeped achingly slow. He sighed impatiently. He hoped the storm wouldn’t get there before the signal was sent out. Who knows how long that storm could last? And the signal might not make it out if the storm gets in the way.

**❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅**

Finn wrung his clothes out in the kitchen sink, hanging them on the counter to dry. He had no idea of the pair of eyes burning into his back. Poe’s eyes trailed up Finn’s bareback, aching to feel that soft, chocolate skin. And those arms. Poe could only imagine the things Finn was capable of with those arms of his.

Poe startled when Finn’s voice broke his concentration. “Your turn.” Finn didn’t turn around. His back was still facing Poe, still earning that man’s fiery gaze. Poe’s eyes followed the scar along Finn’s back, a pang of pain in his stomach. He wanted to feel it. He wanted to know if it hurt… if he could make it feel better. Finn turned his eyes to find Poe gazing. “Poe?”

“Huh?” Poe said, eyes suddenly wide and cheeks burning pink like he’d been caught.

“Your turn to use the fresher,” Finn said, walking up to Poe, towel fastened just above his hips. He stopped in front of Poe at the table and held out his hand. “Come on, I’ll wash your clothes. You’ve been working on that com all day. You should clean up and take a break.”

Poe sat there, glancing between Finn and his hand almost blankly as if he didn’t know what to do. Maybe he’d been so hyperfocused on fixing the com system that his brain had turned to mush and now he was incapable of looking away from Finn. Finn and those… damn arms and… Poe’s eyes trailed down Finn’s chest. Stars, this man was a god.

“Poe,” Finn repeated himself. “There’s nothing we can do now. The signal was sent and the storm is blocking anything from coming in right now. There's nothing to do.”

Poe bit his lip hard and peeled his eyes away from Finn for a split second so he could look that man in the eye for once. “Your right,” he said, standing abruptly and tugging at the bottom of his shirt. He pulled it over his head and placed it in Finn’s hands. “Uh… thanks.”

“My pleasure,” Finn said, nodding to Poe. “Now go freshen up. I can tell you’re all…” Finn gestured vaguely around his head.

Poe scoffed. “Am I supposed to know what that means?”

“Aloof,” Finn said. “You were zoned out working on that thing. You need to take a break from it.” Finn glanced down between them, his hand still waiting expectantly. “Your pants, Poe.”

Poe looked down at his trousers and back at Finn before a bright smirk spread across his lips. “You trying to get me naked, General?” he teased, putting his hands on his hips and quirking an eyebrow.

“Maybe,” Finn said. “Is that okay?”

Poe huffed, biting the inside of his cheek to hide his smile. He glanced down between them and laughed to himself. Poe looked up, right into Finn’s eyes, as he unfastened his pants and dropped them to the floor. He kicked his feet out of them and walked right past Finn, hoping he sent him the right message.

By the time Poe made it to the fresher, he was giddy. He shut the door and just stood there for a moment, processing. They were actually doing this. Who knew crash-landing and getting a concussion would do him any good?

**❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅**

Poe sat on the table, kicking his feet as he put the last bite of sweetroot in his mouth. “Mm,” he exclaimed, licking the red juice off of his fingers. “Nothing like wild sweetroot.”

“It is pretty good,” Finn agreed, walking up to Poe and standing directly in front of him. Their clothes were drying in front of the fire, leaving them both mostly bare save for the towels wrapped around their waists. It did change the feeling of their air around them, something electric there. Tingly.

“What?” Poe asked, confused with the expectant look that Finn was giving him.

Finn cleared his throat, taking a step closer, nudging a hip between Poe’s knees. “Let me take a look,” he said, making Poe come up entirely speechless. Had Finn really just been that forward? Should Poe be surprised after the way Finn had been acting the last few days. Finn sighed and rolled his eyes in annoyance. “At your head, dumbass.”

“Oh!” Poe said, relaxing and letting his legs fall open so Finn could lean closer to take a look. Just before Finn could pull Poe’s head down to the side Poe pulled back. “Wait, dumbass? Who you calling a dumbass?”

Finn made a face and grabbed Poe’s face with two hands. Turning it sideways to look at the gauge on the side. Finn gently poked around it, earning swats and protests from Poe. “I’m just making sure it’s not infected, Poe.”

“Kriffing hurts!”

“Sorry,” Finn said, letting Poe go free. The pilot’s face was red as grimaced in pain. “Sorry, you’re fine. It’s doing really good. There’s no blood. How did you do in the fresher? Did you have any trouble?”

Poe cupped his hand over the bump on his skull protectively, glaring at Finn. “It was fine until you poked at it. Geez!”

“Poe-”

“I know. I know. You were just checking for infection,” Poe said with an eye roll.

“Hey, the good news is, all I need to do is slap a little bacta gel on there and that head of yours should be good as new in no time,” Finn assured him. He leaned toward Poe to reach for the bottle of bacta gel that was sitting behind him.

Poe froze up as Finn’s face was so close to his. Their noses were just barely touching. Finn’s lips were so tempting at a distance that short. Poe wasn’t sure he could resist them anymore. As Finn started to move back, Poe found himself gravitating forward, lips chasing after Finn’s. Then he felt something wet and slightly uncomfortable on his skull.

Finn carefully dabbed some bacta into the wound and winced as he saw Poe’s face turning red again. “Sorry,” he apologized again.

“Why do you keep doing that?” Poe asked.

“Doing what?”

Poe looked up at Finn with a quirked eyebrow. “Leading me on and then kriffing hurting me-”

“I’m just trying to distract you,” Finn said abruptly. Although, Finn wasn’t entirely sure how true it was. He was having a really hard time not… flirting with Poe. When it was just the two of them cooped up in that outpost for days on end, Finn didn’t have it in himself not to.

“Well, don’t,” Poe said.

“I’m sorry, okay? I’m not meaning to-ugh…” Finn facepalmed. He took a deep breath and lowered both of his hands, placing them on Poe’s thighs. He could feel Poe’s cool skin through the towel. “How are you feeling?” Finn asked.

“That depends? Do you mean physically, emotionally, mental-”

“Physically.”

“Well, my head kriffing hurts now. Thanks to you and your stupid-”

“Mentally?”

Poe sighed, unable to help the pout. “Kinda tired.”

“Yeah?” He leaned forward again, hands shifting the sides of Poe’s thighs. He rubbed them with a fond smile. “Think the fresher helped get out of that hyper-focused state you were in earlier today?”

Poe tilted his head, sighing as he looked at Finn in amusement. “I think my focus is on something entirely different now.”

“Good,” Finn said, hands finding their resting spot at Poe’s hips. “Now what about emotionally?”

Poe’s eyes flicked between Finn’s lips and eyes a few times. He laughed silently. “Good,” Poe said simply. “How are you?”

“Well, considering I fell off a roof today, I am doing pretty damn good.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Finn said, leaning forward to do  _ something  _ but then a pain shot up Finn’s lower back and he let out a pained noise. “Speaking of falling off a roof…”

“Are you okay?” Poe asked, unable to keep the laughter out of his voice. He placed a hand on Finn’s back.

“M’fine,” Finn said in a pained voice, leaning to the side over Poe’s lap, a hand braced against his lower back. “Oof.”

Poe rubbed at Finn’s back sympathetically. “Aw, buddy. I’m sorry.”

“S’okay,” Finn said, standing up straight and grunting in pain. Poe covered his mouth to hide his smile at the sight of Finn groaning and grunting from back pain like an old man. “Your head hurts. My back hurts. I know the perfect remedy.”

Poe furrowed his brows skeptically. “Uh… I hope you mean pain meds-”

“Nope,” Finn said.

Poe couldn’t hide the grin on his face. He shook his head and facepalmed very briefly. “Finn, I don’t think that’s a good idea. I mean, I don’t think that’s such a good idea with your back hurting. We can-we can wait-”

“What are you talking about?” Finn asked, sending a squinty face in Poe’s direction.

Poe stuttered. “Uh. Well… Ehem.”

“Hang on. Hang on. Are you referring to what I think you are?”

“No.”

“Yes. You are,” Finn pointed at him accusingly.

“Well, can you blame me? You’re over here just spreading my legs and running your hands up my thighs and doing everything short of touching my ass! What kind of message do you think that sends?” Poe said, reaching his peak of frustration with Finn. “You ask me how I am doing emotionally? I am confused, Finn. You’re so damn confusing!”

“How am I the confusing one?”

“Are you into me or not?”

“Yes.”

“Which one?!”

“I am into you, Poe,” Finn snapped.

“Then what did you mean?!”

Finn huffed and sidestepped awkwardly, babying his tendering back to reach for a bottle behind Poe. He lifted it up. It was clear and full of a brown liquid. He popped the lid off. “This. I found some hidden alcohol. I thought it would be nice to share the bottle.”

Poe opened and closed his mouth twice, not sure if he wanted to praise Finn for finding a hidden treasure or scold him for leading him on like that. “Oh. So you’re going to get me drunk and  _ then  _ have sex with me. That’s nice,” Poe said dryly. Apparently, it was neither of those things then.

“Yeah. Yeah. That’s it,” Finn said facetiously. He crossed his arms and looked at Poe. Was he done throwing a fit?

Poe shrunk a little. So it definitely wasn’t fair of Poe to accuse Finn of that. “Sorry,” he said.

“Done?”

“Yeah,” Poe said.

“Good,” Finn said. He opened the bottle of alcohol and sniffed it. He switched it around the bottle and nodded at Poe. “You’re so moody.”

Poe leans on one of his arms and sighed. “Of course, I am. You’re confusing. You were acting like you wanted to-”

“I do want to, Poe,” Finn said. He stepped closer to Poe, nestling himself between Poe’s knees again. “I mean… maybe not tonight. But I wanted you to know that I want to. That’s what I was doing. I was trying to show you-”

“So you’re saying you want to take things slowly?”

“Yes, is that okay?” Finn asked, his own frustration becoming clear. There was a hint of insecurity in his tone.

“Well, yeah. But why not just say so?”

Finn looked down and shrugged. “Scared to, I guess.”

Poe saw the vulnerability in Finn’s eyes. He was nervous. Poe could understand why. Finn had probably never been in a relationship before. He was… he was afraid. “Okay...” Poe said, nodding in understanding finally. “Okay, fine.” He took the bottle from Finn and gave it a taste. He let the bitterness sink in before passing it back to Finn. “But keep in mind, you’re not that only one who is afraid here.”


	10. Day Ten - Heat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finn and Poe stay warm during the raging storm outside...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning: this is where the smut happens, this was my first time attempting to write smut

Poe woke to a tickle against his ear. Warm breath ghost across his skin, much like the light touches of fingers trailing down his chest. A warm body was pressed against his back, a welcome feeling.

Poe smiled at the memories he’d shared with Finn the night before. Nothing happened. Nothing other than laughing at jokes that weren’t actually funny because they were drunk. Not drunk enough to forget that nothing happened but drunk enough to fall asleep on the floor in front of the fireplace where Poe told Finn drunk stories all night. Poe forgot the stories he told.

Poe wasn’t sure if he was glad that nothing happened or if he was disappointed. He thought he wanted it then but in waking up, he wanted it sober. He relished the feeling of Finn’s big hands on him, his lips… his lips! Stars, Finn was kissing his neck. Poe’s heart rate skyrocketed at the realization.

Poe quickly grabbed Finn’s hand, squeezing it as he shifted back into Finn. He was so warm, hot even. Finn angled his head to kiss at Poe’s jaw, earning a soft moan from the pilot. “Finn,” he breathed, shifting even further so that he was on his back.

Finn towered over Poe, hands resting on top of Poe’s chest. Poe’s mother’s ring was underneath one of his fingers and Finn glanced at it thoughtfully before looking at Poe. There was something warm yet determined in those eyes. “We need to stop being afraid, Poe.”

Poe looked up at Finn, eyes glazed over with something lustful. But even through that lust, Poe could see what Finn meant, what he wanted. Poe wanted it too. “Then let’s stop,” Poe said, breaking out into a grin.

Finn dipped down to catch Poe’s lips in his. Poe was shocked at the eagerness, how quick Finn’s lips were. Not that it was unwelcome. He was just expecting Finn to be more tentative. Poe wasn’t going to complain. He liked a man with confidence. Especially when that man was Finn. “Mm. So hot,” Poe found himself saying aloud when Finn broke away.

Finn smiled into the kiss after that, almost laughing. “So are you,  _ Princess _ ,” Finn said. That elicited an unexpected reaction from Poe. Though Finn should’ve known better after the way Poe had been responding to the nickname the last two weeks.

“Fuck!” Poe moaned, grabbing the towel that was still wrapped around the other man’s waist and tugging at it. “Finn,” he practically whined. He looked at Finn, eyebrows drawn wide as he breathed heavily. “Are we doing this?”

Finn hesitated, and Poe almost groaned but Finn surprised him with his confidence again when he said, “Oh… we’re doing this.” He pulled his towel off and watched as Poe tried to maintain eye contact and failed.

“Damn, you are huge,” Poe said, a furious blush growing on his face. He rested his head back and closed his eyes, breathing a relaxing breath. He knitted his brows together and looked up at Finn. “Are you sure? I mean we don’t exactly have any-”

“Hold that thought,” Finn said, pressing a finger to Poe’s lips. He quickly got to his feet. Before Poe could even see where he was going, Finn was back, holding something out to Poe.

Poe took the bottle and squinted. He turned it and read the label: Medical Lubricant. “Wow,” Poe said, he raised his eyebrows and looked at Finn. “You just carry this on you at all times or-”

“It was in the medpac,” Finn blurted. He nestled himself between Poe’s legs and hovered over him, bracing himself with an arm on either side of Poe’s face. “We still doing this?”

“Yes,” Poe said, with no hesitation. He handed the bottle of lube to Finn, watching in amusement as Finn lubed up a finger. He really seemed like he knew what he was doing. He never took Finn as the kind of guy who had a lot of experience in that department… or much at all.

“Ready?” Finn asked, lining up a finger to Poe’s entrance.

Poe made a choked noise before saying, “Yes.” He moaned as he felt Finn inside of him. This was all happening really fast. He savored the feeling, closing his eyes and reaching up to run his fingers through Finn’s hair and along his neck. “Yes,” he repeated.

Before Poe was ready, he felt another finger and grunted. “Mm. Slow down, buddy,” Poe said, opening his eyes to pull Finn closer. He was going to savor this. “We’ve got all day. No need to rush things.”

That seemed to relax Finn a bit. He let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Finn smiled down at Poe. “Right,” he said, voice vulnerably soft. They watched each other closely, eyes locked as Finn’s prepared him, something more tender in his touch now. Finn leaned down and kissed Poe, something soft that grew deeper.

Just as Finn’s tongue brushed against Poe’s lips, Finn’s fingers brushed his prostate. Poe moaned into Finn’s mouth, rolling his hips upward. “Mm,” Poe moaned, both hands in Finn’s hair now.

Finn pulled his lips away to ask, “Better?”

“Yeah,” Poe said, head resting against the ground, throat exposed. Finn saw the opportunity and took it, latching onto the skin and licking at it as he worked into Poe. “Wow… you are a natural,” Poe blurted.

Finn pulled back and pressed a kiss to Poe’s chin. “You want another?”

“Mhm,” Poe hummed eagerly.

Finn added another finger, scooting up to whisper in Poe’s ear. “So tight, Princess,” Finn said, knowing it would elicit a reaction. He relished the sound of Poe’s needy whimpers. He peppered kisses across Poe’s jaw. “So pretty.” And down his neck again. “So needy.”

Poe’s toes curled as his heels dug into the back of Finn’s thighs. Finn inside of him, working him open, brushing against his prostate… “Fuck, Finn.”

“Is that what you want?” Finn asked.

“MMmmmm,” Poe moaned, nodding his head. “Please.”   
  


“Okay,” Finn said, removing his fingers slowly. He settled himself between Poe’s legs, running his hands over Poe’s thighs. “Whatever you want, Princess.” Poe watched as Finn slicked himself up with the lube, grasping the blanket beneath them and closing his eyes to resist the urge to sit up and get his hands on Finn’s beautiful cock. Finn must’ve noticed this. “Patience, Poe,” he said, placing his palms on Poe’s knees.

Poe grunted. “Are you really expecting me, of all people, to be patient right now?” Poe said, bouncing one of his knees in anticipation. He bit back a needy whimper and sighed in frustration. “Finn,” he whined, eyes pinched closed as he felt Finn pressed against him, ready to ease in. “Please.”

Poe felt a soft kiss on the side of his jaw, opening his eyes he found Finn’s. “What happened to ‘We have all day’?” Finn said. Poe’s mouth fell slack as he panted, about to tell Finn he was just being mean now but then he felt it. Finn eased into Poe, so thick and hard. Poe’s cry of pleasure bounced off the walls of their temporary domicile. Finn hummed in satisfaction at the sound. It was music to his ears.

Finn pressed kisses to Poe’s neck, easing into him a bit further. He moved his lips over Poe’s to catch the moan that elicited from the man. He eased further, needing to hear more of that delicious sound coming from Poe’s throat. This time it was a sharper moan and Poe pulled his lips away, leaving Finn cold. “Stars, Finn. Now, who is the one being impatient?”

Finn bit back a smile, a huff of laughter escaping his mouth. “Sorry,” he said, but he wasn’t really that sorry. Not when Poe was underneath him writhing in pleasure. While he allowed Poe to adjust to his length and girth, he took Poe’s in his hand and gave an experimental pump.

Poe had a filthy mouth, cursing and praising Finn with equal measure as Finn worked into him. He eased in, starting with slow thrusts. He nibbled on Poe’s ear, eager to hear those beautiful whimpers and whines coming from Poe’s throat. “You sound so amazing.”

Finn’s pace only picked up when Poe’s thighs tightened around him. Stars, Poe was so hot and tight around him. And when each thrust pulled a noise from Poe, Finn only wanted more. Poe said they had all day, but Finn lost sight of ‘all day.’ All he could see was the pleasure, the intimacy. Poe was so beautiful.

When Poe’s hips arch in rhythm with Finn’s thrusts, Finn figured they’d both come to the conclusion that this wasn't going to last all day. But Finn pressed a kiss to Poe’s shoulder, knowing that after this, whatever they’d be doing all day would probably feel just as intimate.

Finn could feel it all building up to that one moment. He couldn’t hold back the moan. “Poe-”

“Cum inside of me,” Poe said, voice almost gone with how hard he was breathing, how lost in the moment he was. “I want to feel you.” Finn pressed his forehead into Poe’s shoulder as the thrusts built, he was almost- “Fill me up, Finn.”

Yep. That would do it. Finn pulled back to watch Poe’s eyes roll to the back of his head as he came inside of him, filling Poe up to the brim. Poe’s hips bucked up into Finn’s and he spasmed, spilling out onto Finn and himself as he cried out in pleasure one more time.

They collapsed, gasping, breathing in each other’s scent. Their limbs remained tangled. They were a hot mess but in the best way possible. “Don’t pull out,” Poe said, a plea to savor the moment… to savor that intimacy.

Finn hummed in affirmation, only pulling his head back to press a kiss to Poe’s cheekbone. “Beautiful.” He kissed the side of Poe’s mouth. “That was amazing.”

The pilot turned his head to smile at Finn. “You were amazing,” he said, tightening his arms around the man and pulling him into a warm kiss. The heat was dissipating but the warmth of intimacy and love was ever-present. “I love you.”

Finn stilled at the declaration. It’s not like he didn’t know. But he wasn’t expecting it to be that easy. Perhaps being in the heat of the moment is what got it out of Poe. Now if he could just say the words back but Finn was speechless. Poe loved him. He loved Poe. They  _ made  _ love to each other.

Poe’s cold fingers, danced up and down Finn’s bare back, tracing the mangled scare fondly. He still wanted to kiss it and he planned on doing it at some point if Finn would let him. He could see the thoughtfulness in Finn’s eyes, the dazed look as he admired the man beneath him, the man he was still inside of. “You were right… I think we need to stop being afraid of how we feel. And I… I love you, Finn. I’m not going to be afraid to tell you anymore.”

Something inside of Finn melted, went so soft and warm that his heart ached. He smiled, his bright teeth gleaming down at Poe, so full of hope and love and raw affection. “I love you, Poe Dameron…” Finn paused as his smile turned into a playful grin. “ _ Princess _ ,” he teased and Poe laughed. “Why do you like that name so much, Poe?”

Poe’s expression softened a bit. He licked his lips and let the air go quiet. He wanted Finn to hear the honesty in his voice. “Because you gave it to me… just like I gave you the name ‘Finn’.”

“And I wouldn’t trade that name for the world,” Finn assured Poe, his fingers brushing back those curls of his that bounced in the humidity of Ajan Kloss. The harsh, dry climate on Hoth did nothing for those curls. But they were still beautiful nonetheless. Finn cleared his throat. “Ya know… you did give me another name that I really like?”

Poe furrowed his brows in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“ _ General _ .”

Poe smirked, biting his lip to hold back how much joy that truly brought him. “You like being called that, huh? Maybe in the same way I like being called Princess?” Poe lifted one brow to suggest something, only getting a smirk from Finn in return. “ _ General _ ,” Poe said, a flirtatious infliction.

Finn shifted, to get even closer to Poe. Poe moaned a bit as he felt Finn’s length shift too. Finn was about to laugh and apologize but a pain shot up his lower back. “Ooo. Ooo. Owowwowowoooo.” Finn said, pressing his face into Poe’s shoulder to muffle the cries of pain.

“Ope, Finn, buddy. What’s wrong? What happened?” Poe asked frantically.

“Back,” Finn choked. He moaned into Poe’s neck. “Can’t move.”

Poe sighed and rolled his eyes. He’d forgotten about Finn’s back. If he’d remembered, he probably would have encouraged him to wait until he was feeling better. “Dammit, Finn.”

“I’m sorry. I forgot,” Finn apologized.

“I gotcha, buddy. I got you.” Poe rolled them on their side, closing his eyes as Finn slid out of him. They savored the moment alright. Poe heard grunts of pain and discomfort from Finn as the man rolled onto his back. “Hey. Hey, careful.”

“I don’t regret a thing,” Finn said, even as he writhed in pain. “Best day of my life.”

Poe sighed as he sat up, grabbing Finn’s wrist of the arm closest to him. “Finn.”

“Never done anything that felt so amazing,” Finn continued, eyes closed as he panted a bit. Poe tugged on Finn’s arm and grabbed the opposite knee, pulling it up until that foot locked into the other knee. Finn opened his eyes and squinted at Poe. “What are you doing?”

“I’m fixing your back,” Poe said, pressing a palm to Finn’s ass.

Finn huffed. “Poe, that is my ass.” He looked at Poe, eyes landing on Poe’s stomach.

“I know,” Poe said, settling closer to Finn. He briefly caught Finn’s eye, long enough to notice what Finn was looking at. They were both still covered in Poe’s cum. He blushed, reaching behind him to grab the towel that he didn’t even remember Finn taking off of him before he fucked him so good. He wiped off his stomach first and then Finn’s.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Finn said.

Poe’s hand moved from Finn’s ass to his spine, feeling for something. He tugged on Finn’s arm, the one whose shoulder was pressed against the ground then put his hand back on Finn’s ass. “Deep breath.”

“What are you-”

“Deep breath, Finn,” Poe said more firmly.

Finn sucked in a deep breath and as soon as he let it out, Poe slammed his hip into him. A sickening crack echoed up his spine and he cried out. “What the hell, Poe?! Are you trying to break my back?!”

“No. I’m fixing it,” Poe said. “Other side.”

Finn huffed rolling onto his back. “If you think-” Finn realized that some of the tension in his back was gone now. “Hm,” he hummed thoughtfully as Poe straddled him briefly. “Where did you learn to do that?”

“Dad had back problems after the war,” Poe said, climbing off Finn to his other side. He did the same on that side. Pulled an arm for leverage, pulled up a knee, found the problem area, and adjusted until it locked, then slam.

“Oh!” Finn cried out. Relief! “Poe, how did you do that?” He laid on his back and Poe was right there, grabbing both of Finn’s arms and placing them over his chest. He maneuvered his arms under Finn’s upper back.

“Breathe in.”

Crack!

“What the-,” Finn said, voice high in surprise.

“Better?” Poe asked, releasing Finn to relax and breathe.

Finn sighed. “I think so. Damn, Poe. I kept thinking you were going to break my back.”

“I’m not going to break your back,” Poe promised. He straddled Finn, running a cold hand up and down Finn’s warm chest. “Trust me.”

“I do trust you, Poe,” Finn insisted. He reached up, disappointed that Poe’s face was too far away. “Come here.” Poe leaned closer, Finn’s warm hands meeting the sides of his face to brush away a few of those curls. “I trust you. I trust you with my life. ...and my spine.”

Poe chuckled as one of his hands slid up Finn’s arm to grab his wrist before sliding back down. “Well, I trust you too, buddy. You kept me from bleeding out on the ice. And from passing out in the fresher and cracking my head open a second time.”

“I know you trust me. You just let me do something very intimate to you.”

“Mhm. You really seemed to know what you were doing. Have you done that before?” Poe asked curiously. He’d always assumed that Finn might not have experience but that was so good…

“Um…” Finn bit his lip anxiously. “No. Not really.”

Poe furrowed his brows. “How?”

“I mean, First Order… not a lot of opportunities-”

“No, Finn,” Poe said, shaking his shoulders a little. “How were you so good with so little experience?”

Finn broke into a clever smile. “I don’t know. I just listened to my body, I guess. I followed my instinct. I… I listened to you…” Finn trailed off, brushing back Poe’s hair again. “You have a really beautiful voice, Poe.”

“Well, I’m glad you think so because I can’t keep quiet when you make me feel so good, Finn,” Poe said. He rubbed Finn’s chest and sat up, moving his hand to Finn’s belly. He patted it twice. “I bet you worked up an appetite. What do you say, General? Breakfast?”

**❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅**

Poe pulled his warm pants up over his hips. They’d been by the fire all night long, trying and getting warm. As he fastened them, he watched Finn preparing something in the kitchen. He was wearing those black underpants that hugs his thighs so deliciously.

Before Poe could stop himself, he crept up behind Finn and wrapped his arms around his waist. He plastered kisses to Finn’s neck and shoulder lovingly. “So beautiful,” he muttered. Because he could. He didn’t have to keep thoughts like that to himself anymore.

“Talking about yourself, are we?” Finn teased, earning a pinch on one of his nipples. “Ow!” he chided, turning around in Poe’s arms. “Poe, what are you doing? I’m trying to make breakfast.”

“I know what you’re trying to do,” Poe said, tightening his grip on the man. “I’m just trying to help.”

“By distracting me?”

“Mhm.” Poe chuckled when Finn rolled his eyes and placed another kiss on Finn’s shoulder. “You know… with that raging storm outside it’s getting pretty chilly in here.”

“If you’re cold, you could put on the rest of your clothes,” Finn said, returning his attention to the vegetables he was slicing. Poe felt nice. He did feel a bit cold, especially his hands. Poe’s hands were always so cold.

“Mmmmm. Or after breakfast you could keep me warm,” Poe said, feigning innocence. Though it was very clear what he intended. “In bed.”

Finn chuckled, scooping up the vegetables and putting them in the pan he’d set aside before chopping them up. “In bed? Instead of on the floor? Now that is an offer I cannot pass up,” Finn said, though he said it a bit sarcastically in a way that Poe knew he was entirely convinced yet.

Poe rubbed just below Finn’s belly button, breathing out his nose onto Finn’s neck. “Maybe I can be on top this time. You can take this pilot for a ride, hm?” Poe made a sound of disappointment when Finn broke away to take the pan of vegetables to the fireplace for heating.

“Poe, save the foreplay until after breakfast is already made so I don’t get distracted and set our only shelter for miles on fire,” Finn said. He placed the pan next to the fire and stoked the long-burning coals a bit. When the room was unusually quiet Finn turned around to see Poe on the other side of the room where he’d ditched him, looking a bit lost with that pout on his lips. “Hey. Remember what you told me? We have all day to keep each other warm. For now, let’s eat so that we’ll have the energy to last all day. Does that sound alright to you?”

Poe continued to pout as he approached Finn. But as soon as he got to the fireplace he sat next to Finn and wrapped his arms around his torso. “Okay,” he said and pressed a kiss to Finn’s cheek. “You’re smart. That’s why I like you.”

“Oh? Is that why?”

“Mhm. You’ve always had the best plans. A lot better than my stupid plans,” Poe said.

“Your plans aren’t stupid, Poe.”

Poe shrugged a little. “Eh. They’re a little stupid. They can be stupid. Don’t lie. You know my plans are what get us into trouble.”

Finn sighed. “Well, I won’t deny that.” They both laughed. Finn stirred the vegetables as they sat in silence for a moment. “You might not be the best when it comes to plans but you’re really good at improvising. And you’re really good at inspiring people when plans go wrong. Have you ever thought about being a motivational speaker?”

Poe huffed and shoved at Finn’s shoulder. “Oh. Shush. All you need to do to motivate people is show them your arms. Works for me,” Poe flirted, giving Finn’s bicep a squeeze.

“You are unbelievable, Poe Dameron,” Finn said, a grin on his face. “You’re never going to stop now are you?”

“Oh, me? What? I can’t flirt with you  _ now  _ but you’ve been relentlessly flirting with me for the past five days? Come on, buddy. That’s not fair,” Poe retorted.

“I wasn’t flirting,” Finn swore.

“Oh yeah? Not flirting? With the ‘Princess’ and the winking and the massage! Finn, that’s all flirting.”

“I never winked at you.”

“Yes, you did. Don’t do that to me. I’m not crazy. I saw you wink.”

“Maybe something was in my eye,” Finn said, he winked and rubbed at his eye nonchalantly. Poe frowned at Finn, giving him the dirtiest of looks. “Fine! I was flirting but it wasn’t all intentional. I didn’t plan on winking or calling you princess or-"

"Accidental flirting is still flirting."

Finn sighed. "Come on. I wasn’t that bad-"

"I never said you were bad," Poe said. "You are surprisingly good at it. When it's just the two of us. Stuck on an ice planet. In an abandoned outpost. You didn't exactly flirt before."

"But you did," Finn said. He blinked thinking about what flirting meant. "I think. Did you flirt with me?"

Poe chuckled. "Probably. I've been told it's part of my personality. I can be overly friendly sometimes but-but I don't think I could ever have intentionally flirted with you. I would just turn into a bumbling mess."

"What? You would've been fine."

Poe shook his head. "No. You don’t understand how many times I tried." Finn laughed and shook his head. “To be completely honest it never felt right to flirt with you cause… I don’t know. I just cared about you too much. I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable or confuse you.”

“Why do you think you flirting with me would confuse me or make me uncomfortable?” Finn asked Poe. He looked him in the eyes, a serious look.

Poe blinked and sighed. “Cause you needed a friend. You needed someone to help guide you through life outside the First Order. I wanted to be that person for you but I didn’t want to make things complicated. Besides, there was never a guarantee that I was even your type. Plus… it felt strange being almost a decade older than you and having this massive crush that I couldn’t get rid of.”

“Do you feel like you’re too old for me?” Finn asked. He glanced down at Poe’s lips. Even though they looked like they were dying of thirst, they still looked so tempting to catch a taste of. “Cause you’re not. I’m pretty sure Han was eleven years older than Leia so…” Finn trailed off and shrugged one of his shoulders.

“Do you feel like I’m too old for you?” Poe asked.

“No,” Finn said, no hesitation. He glanced at Poe’s lips again. “Especially since you never act your age,” he added, watching Poe’s eyes as the man realized what he was saying. “I’m kidding!” Finn swore. “Sort of.”

“You better be kidding.”


	11. Day Eleven - Contact

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They finally make contact with someone who can help…

Poe could get used to this. As much as he hated Hoth, he loved the feeling of being wrapped up in Finn. He loved having Finn’s undivided attention. He loved the feeling of Finn’s lips on his neck, trailing down his back. And the feeling of his big, warm hands on his hips as his mouth worked down Poe’s spine.

As Poe woke up to the very welcome touches, he started to remember the day they’d had. All day… Finn and Poe barely finished their breakfast before they were climbing in bed, unable to separate their bodies for hours.

They wore themselves out, passing out early and apparently not wasting any time getting back to it the next morning. Poe chuckled as he felt Finn’s mouth kissing the side of his hip where one of his hands was. “You know what you’re doing there, bud?”

“I don’t know,” Finn said tiredly, chuckling as he climbed back up to Poe’s face. “Loving you.”

Poe stared up at Finn with stars in his eyes. “Feels like we’re on a honeymoon.”

Finn’s brows scrunched up. “Hm?”

“Ya know… like the vacation couples go on after they get married?”

“Ooooh…” Finn trailed off. “What?”

Poe chuckled voicelessly, running a hand up and down Finn’s back affectionately. “I guess this is one more part of the outside world that I get to introduce you to, huh?”

Finn smiled. “You mean like the romantic stuff?”

“Exactly. And the sexy stuff.”

“I am looking forward to learning all about those things. I can’t wait,” Finn said, leaning down and kissing Poe on the lips. “Think maybe you could teach me something right now?”

Poe chuckled. “Well, that depends on what you’re ready for.”

“Everything,” Finn said eagerly, diving into Poe’s neck to suck and nip at the skin there. “Anything you want, Princess.”

“Wow…” Poe said, leaning into Finn’s touch. “That is…” Poe moaned as Finn’s hands roamed his body. Finn elegantly shifted Poe’s hips so they laid flat against the mattress and Poe’s knees instinctively fell apart. “Kriff, Finn.”

Finn settled between Poe’s legs, a familiar place after everything they’d done the day before. “This what you want, Princess?”

Poe licked his lips in anticipation. How did Finn make him fall apart so quickly? “I want  _ you _ .”

Finn lowered himself down on top of Poe and kissed him. There was a firm tenderness in the way Finn kissed him. Poe’s arms wrapped around him, fingers tracing up and down his spine, digging into his hair. As the kiss went on, the heat built and by the time they pulled back, they were panting and eager to warm things up even more.

Finn’s hands slide down Poe’s thighs until he could lift up his knees. He brushed their noses together affectionately as Poe’s legs wrapped around him. He pressed a kiss to Poe’s forehead as he reached for the bottle on the bedside table.   
  
“Wait, Finn,” Poe said, suddenly sitting up. Finn pulled back worried he’d done something Poe didn’t like. “Did you hear that?”

Finn furrowed his brows, confused as he listened carefully. There was a faint static noise in the background. He turned his head towards the table on the other side of the room. Was it coming from the coms?

_ “Starbird, do you copy? This is foxtail. Over.” _

“Shit!” Poe said as both of them untangled themselves from each other to scramble over to the coms. Poe tossed the headset to Finn and sat at the table to calibrate the navcom to send back a reply.

“Uh. F-Foxtail, this is Starbird. Do you read?”

_ “Finn! Is that you?!” _

“Jannah?” Finn exclaimed as Poe threw a hand up in the air to celebrate.

_ “Are you alright? Is Poe there?” _

“I’m alright. Poe is alright. He’s right here with me,” Finn said.

_ “Where have you been?!” _

“Uh. uh! Hoth! We’re on Hoth in an abandoned outpost.”

“The children,” Poe said. “Ask her about the mission. Tell her about the people who chased us out of hyperspace.”

_ “You got chased out of hyperspace? I knew it! When you guys went AWOL we figured something must’ve happened so we followed your trail and we found them. The children are safe.” _

“You can hear me?” Poe asked.

_ “Yes. I can hear you. Now what we’re all wondering is are you guys safe?” _

“Yeah. We’re fine,” Finn assured her. “Uh. The crash was pretty bad and Poe hit his head really hard but he’s pulled through.”

_ “How are you on food and water?” _

“We have enough for a couple days,” Finn replied. “But you can come get us soon, right? Where are you?”

The radio was silent for a moment. Finn and Poe looked at each other anxiously as they awaited their reply _. “Someone should be there within thirty hours. The Resistance has been notified of your location. We’re passing near the system but there isn’t room for any more on our ship. If you can hold off until tomorrow, you’ll have a medic to take a look at Poe and they’ll bring you food and water.” _

“Tomorrow will be alright. Thank you, Foxtail. Stay safe out there.”

_ “You too, General,” _ She replied.  _ “May the Force be with you.” _

“And with You.”

_ “Over.” _

Finn dropped the headset and stood there looking at Poe. “We’re going home.”

Poe jumped to his feet and into Finn’s arms. “We’re going somewhere warm!” Poe said as Finn spun him around. They laughed joyously before Poe planted his feet on the ground and they kissed. “I was just starting to get used to this.”

“Me too,” Finn said, swaying with Poe in his arms. “I really liked having you all to myself. No interruptions.”

Poe huffed. “We really are in the honeymoon phase, aren’t we?”

Finn tensed up a little bit. “I thought you said that was for after a couple gets married?”

“Uh… The honeymoon is after marriage but the honeymoon phase is just the phase of a relationship where it’s all sex and kissing and being so happy to finally be together.”

Finn sighed in relief. “Okay.”

“Yeah. We can’t get married until you meet my dad so don’t get so worked up just yet there, pal,” Poe teased. “He’s gonna want you to ask for permission and all that. He’s old fashioned like that.”

“Permission?” Finn said, a little bit of horror in his eyes.

“I’m teasing,” Poe assured him. “Sort of… don’t worry about it. This whole thing is new so we have a long way to go before we have to worry about that. One thing at a time, Finn.”

“Are you my boyfriend?” Finn blurted, a nervous twitch in his eyebrow.

“I hope so,” Poe said. “Are you mine?”

“Am I your boyfriend?”

“...I hope so.”

“Poe.”

“Yes. Okay? Is that okay?”

“That’s perfectly fine with me. I’m just wondering if it’s gonna be okay with your dad,” Finn teased. Poe made it sound like his father might have an issue with their relationship. “You know. Since he would want me to ask permission first-”

Poe’s laughter silenced him. “Finn, don’t worry about my dad.” He rested his hands on Finn’s shoulders and sighed. “We’ll cross that road when we get there.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means he’s very protective,” Poe assured him. “That’s all. I promise.”

“Well, so am I.”

“Then you have nothing to worry about,” Poe said. “Now, how about we hop in the fresher, hm?” He was eager to stop talking about his father.

Finn hesitated, not sure if he was ready to forget about overthinking for a little while. “Together?” he asked, raising his eyebrows curiously.

Poe smiled, finding Finn’s hesitance a little more adorable than he thought he should. “Yeah. Together. You think that’s a good plan, General?” He watched as Finn contemplated. He wondered what he was thinking. It’s not like there was really a better option. They were both naked and they both needed to freshen up and-

“Course, I could just take a shower by myself,” Poe said, separating himself from Finn and walking towards the refresher, tantalizingly slow. When he reached the door frame, he leaned against it, turning his head back to look at Finn through his eyelashes.

Finn’s eyes trailed down Poe’s body. The man’s waist was surprisingly small, his hips jutting back a little to tempt Finn with those plump ass cheeks. Finn’s eyes stayed there for a moment, licking his lips.

Poe let out a melodramatic sigh. “All by myself…” he said, pressing his forehead against the door frame. He sighed again, only peeking back at Finn with one eye to see if he was wearing him thin. “Hope I don’t fall and crack my head open.”

“Oh shut up,” Finn said, caving and walking up behind Poe. “Such a tease,” he said before walking right past Poe to turn on the water and get it warmed up.

“Oh, I’m a tease? What happened to ‘whatever the Princess wants’?” Poe asked, hopping up onto the counter and waiting for Finn to pay him some attention. When Finn turned around and settled between Poe’s knees in silence, Poe hummed.

“And what about what I want?” Finn asked, running his hands up and down Poe’s thighs. There was a perfect mix of patience and eagerness in those hands as they roamed Poe’s naked body freely.

Poe’s toes curled at the way Finn was speaking so quietly and touching him so softly. “And what does the General want?” Poe asked, voice whisper-quiet as Finn’s mouth was almost on top of his.

Before Finn closed the distance between them, he held Poe’s chin gently. Finn had a gentleness about him that made Poe melt at every touch. He simply looked at Poe’s lips, ran a thumb over them, and smiled. “You.”

Poe leaned into the touch, so tempted to just lean in and hug Finn because he just felt so warm and soft. Poe felt something playful inside of him perk up and turned his head to the side and let Finn’s thumb slip in. He watched Finn’s eyes with great zeal as he sucked on each of Finn’s fingers. Finn watched Poe’s mouth fondly until their eyes met. Finn followed Poe’s suggestive eyes down to his-

”Fuck, Poe.”

“How ‘bout that? You want that?”

**❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅**

After freshening up with Finn, Poe took a nap. Between still recovering from a head injury and spending the entire day prior fooling around with Finn, he was tired. His brain needed a break.

Finn cleaned up around the room. They’d been a little careless the day before, throwing blankets and pillows aside so they could properly make love to each other. Or just hold each other.

Finn held one of the pillows as he remembered holding Poe and being held back. It felt good. All the time feeling like there was a reason he and Poe clicked so well finally paid off. He understood now. The Force brought them together for more than one reason, after all.

Finn walked up to the bed quietly and placed the pillow at the top of the mattress. He pulled a blanket up and over Poe’s shoulder. He smiled fondly watching his lover stir and smack his lips. Poe mumbled something indiscernible before falling still and quiet again.

Finn watched him until he woke up. It could have been over an hour that Finn just sat there and waited for Poe to wake up so he could make him smile. Poe blinked his eyes open and stretched slowly. He huffed and closed his eyes again. “You watching me sleep?”

That pulled Finn out of his daydream. He smiled down at Poe. “Can you blame me?”

Poe immediately started laughing as he sat up. “Finn, if you’re going to say it’s because I look pretty while I’m asleep, you’re dead wrong. Nobody is pretty when they sleep,” Poe swore, shaking his head. But his smile faded as he recalled those long nights on the Raddus, watching Finn sleep. He looked at Finn. “Except maybe you.” Poe blushed and looked down as he huffed out a self-deprecating laugh. He’d never told Finn before.

Finn raised his eyebrows. “You’ve watched me while I was sleeping?”

“Uh… yeah,” Poe admitted with a sigh. He ran his hand through his hair, avoiding the tender lump that was hidden by his thick curls, and then looked Finn in the eyes. “On the  _ Raddus  _ when you were unconscious…” Finn’s brows rose again in surprise. “Yeah. I spent almost every night by your side. So I guess I can’t really blame you for watching me… Although, I didn’t just watch you. I talked to you too.”

Finn’s expression softened to a gaze of fondness. “Really? Why?”

“I… I don’t know, Finn,” Poe said. “I just… for some reason I felt like there was something special about you.”

“I think I know what you mean,” Finn said.

“You do?”

“It’s the Light, isn’t it?” Finn said doubtfully.

“I don’t know why you’re asking me. You’re the one who is Force-Sensitive,” Poe quipped, holding back an impressed smile. He looked at Finn expectantly. “Is it the Light?”

Finn sat in silence for a minute. He absentmindedly rubbed Poe’s knee affectionately as he blinked at Poe thoughtfully. “You say that but I think you’re more connected to the Force than you realize. You radiate this energy, this light that I don’t think you even realize you have.”

“Everyone has the Force, Finn. It’s just stronger in some people and some people can use it to manipulate things or feel things-”

“But no one has what you have,” Finn interrupted. Finn didn’t know what else to say. He just knew that there was something special about Poe. Maybe it was just how he felt about Poe. He leaned in close seeing the expectant look in Poe’s eyes. He grinned. “Your ass,” he teased.

“Oh shut up!” Poe said bursting out into laughter. Finn silenced him with a kiss.

When he pulled back he asked, “Am I wrong?”

“No! I have a great ass,” Poe said. When it came to his ass, Poe had no insecurities. He knew people loved to watch him leave. “Everyone knows I have the greatest ass in the Resistance.”

“I will not deny that,” Finn agreed, sliding his hand forward to grab Poe’s ass and squeezes it. “It’s kinda hard to miss. I know I’ve caught myself staring a few times.”

“And now you have the privilege of touching it,” Poe quipped. He pointed a finger at Finn and sent him a look. “A privilege which no other person in the galaxy has. Especially now that I am the General.”

“So only other Generals are allowed to touch it? It’s a rank thing?” Finn asked, playing dumb. That earned him a pinch on his side. “Oh. Oh! You mean cause I’m your boyfriend now. I get it now.”

“Only mine. Got it, buddy? No other Generals’ assess will you lay your hands on-”

“Now why would I do that when I have ‘the greatest ass in the Resistance’ all to myself?” Finn said. Poe went quiet, a pleased look on his face. He sighed and tenderly brushed back Poe’s hair. “You have nothing to worry about.”

“Neither do you,” Poe said. “I love you.”

“I love you.”


	12. Day Twelve - Rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Help comes…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally... the last chapter!!! This has been a fun work to write. Thanks to those of you who made it all the way here! I really appreciate your interest in my work. Feel free to leaves comments and kudos! Happy New Year Everyone!

“We’ll be there within the hour,” Rose’s voice said over the com. Finn and Poe hadn’t been awake very long when they heard the sound of Rose’s voice through static. Finn was very quick to hop out of bed, eager to speak to his friend. As much as he enjoyed his time with Poe the last few days, he was dying to hear from his friends.

Poe had gotten up, wrapping himself in a blanket before sitting at the table and leaning against Finn while they spoke. The two of them spoke for at least ten minutes before Rose announced their ETA. “Looking forward to seeing you, Captain.”

After speaking to Rose, Finn seemed to be in a very good mood. Poe, however, was almost asleep again, head propped against Finn’s shoulder. Finn brushed back the curls that had fallen into Poe’s face. “Hungry?”

Poe sat up and sighed tiredly. Finn got up to start preparing something for them to eat. But there was one thing Poe wanted more than anything. “I could really go for a cup of caf right about now.”

“Yeah? You feeling tired?” Finn asked as he chopped up the last of the sweet root. That seemed to be Poe’s favorite. At least, considering the circumstances.

“Yeah. It’s not just that,” Poe said, feeling groggy as he sat up straight to stretch his spine. He let out a sigh as some of the tension left him. “I feel like I’ve had a constant headache for the past two and a half weeks.”

“I wonder why,” Finn quipped, tossing the sweetroot in a bowl. He decides they would have it raw that morning. He brought the bowl over to the table and sat next to Poe, setting it between the two of them. “You hit your head pretty hard, Poe. It’s gonna take a while for you to recover.”

Poe huffed, digging his fingers into the bowl to grab a slice of the deep maroon tuber. It was very juicy, staining his fingers immediately. “Yeah. No kidding.”

Finn watched fondly as Poe crunched on the root. It stained his lips a dark red color. His teeth turned pink. “You should take some time off,” Finn suggested. He took a piece of the sweetroot for himself. “Maybe go home and see your dad like you talked about doing before.”

Poe looked at Finn like it wasn’t a half-bad idea. “Go see my dad?”

“Yeah,” Finn agreed. “I mean… I can handle things for a while. I’ve got Rose and Connix to help.” Finn saw the look of disappointment on Poe’s face as he stuffed the last of the slice of root in his mouth. “What’s wrong?”

Poe shrugged, sucking the juice off of his fingers. “I don’t know. I was kinda hoping that maybe you’d come home with me.” He looked at Finn, holding back a smile. “We made a deal, didn’t we?”

Finn chuckled, looking down at their laps as he scooted closer to Poe. “I suppose I could convince them I need some time off too. I mean, I did fall off of the roof and hurt my back so…”

Poe’s smile turned into a bright grin as Finn moved closer to him. “So maybe I’ll have them drop us off on Yavin on their way back to the base?” Poe leaned forward, angling his head a bit, looking at those lips as they slowly got closer.

“Maybe,” Finn said. He closed the distance between them, sinking into a comfortable kiss. That’s what Poe was. He was comfortable. Not too comfortable. There was always adventure in sight when Poe was around. But he was comfortable enough for Finn to call home.

**❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅❅**

Finn insisted they left the place nice and tidy for whoever happened to need a place to stay warm next. Poe almost brought up the fact that that place would need more than tidying up after what they’d been doing the previous two days. That place needed to be hosed down. But he kept his mouth shut and helped Finn the best he could.

When they were finished, they went outside. Rose and her crew were due to show up any minute. Finn and Poe squinted up at the sky, searching for a ship in the atmosphere.

“I guess we just wait,” Finn said.

“Yup,” Poe said, putting an arm around Finn’s shoulder and patting him affectionately. He blinked from the intense reflection of sunlight onto the icy, white sheet of snow that had been piled up from the storm. “Ugh. That hurts my eyes,” he complained, turning his face into Finn’s shoulder.

Finn chuckled, turned to face Poe completely, and hold him. It was freezing cold out so the proximity was very welcome. “Don’t worry. I’m sure it’s just your brain injury talking.”

“I’m a starfighter pilot, Finn. Bright lights aren’t supposed to phase me. Sometimes I have to fly straight towards a star,” Poe argued, voice muffled as his face was buried in Finn’s jacket. “How am I supposed to be a pilot if I can’t handle sunlight reflecting off of snow?”

“First of all, you are far more than a pilot. Okay? You are Poe Dameron, General of the Resistance!” He said, trying to boost Poe’s mood. He knew Poe just had days when he would get into a mood and the only way out of it was to hope he woke up with a better one the next day. “Second of all, it is kriffing bright out here. We can go back inside if you want.”

“You’re only saying that because you’re cold.”

“It’s freezing out here,” Finn said defensively, swaying to the side with Poe to keep moving. It was warmer if they kept moving. “Come on. Let’s go inside. We can wait by the door.”

“Okay,” Poe agreed, allowing Finn to guide him back inside. Poe gave his eyes a minute to adjust. Being inside definitely helped his headache. Finn still held on to his waist, Poe’s hands on his shoulders. Poe smiled, tickled by the oddly familiar stance. “Did you bring me inside just so we could dance?” Poe teased, as they swayed back and forth and spun around in a circle.

Finn huffed and licked his lips, a bit a sheepish look on his face. “No. I don’t think I even know how to dance. I’ve never done it before.”

Poe smiled, something a bit sad but mostly gracious. “Well, you’re not doing too bad for someone who’s never done it before.”

“Really?”

Poe nodded, removing one of his hands from Finn’s shoulder. He laced his fingers with one of Finn’s hands that had been at his waist. “All you really need to do is hold your partner and move.”

“Don’t you need music?”

Poe shook his head fondly. “No. Just a partner is all.” He rested his head on Finn’s shoulder again, closing his eyes as they moved in a circle slowly. He chuckled to himself, remembering the last time he’d danced. “Last time I danced it was with Leia,” Poe said quietly.

“Really? Did you two dance often?”

“Mm. No.” Poe could still remember the smell of her perfume. The smell reminded him of his mother. That was probably part of why he loved Leia so much. She was like a mother to him. To Poe that meant a lot. A strong female figure was always something he craved since his mother died. Even as he grew older he felt the same longing for a mother though he was growing more satisfied with what he did have: friends… a father.

“I wish I could’ve had the honor,” Finn said, reminiscing in Leia’s memory. He always felt like he was in the presence of power and peace when he was near her. She was so radiant. At times he still felt her presence even when she was gone.

“She was a good dancer,” Poe said fondly, smiling at the memory. “A natural… kinda like you.” Poe tilted his head up to kiss Finn on the chin.

“And a princess… kinda like you,” Finn teased, earning a laugh from Poe. “I’m not entirely joking. She does live on in us… in all of us. She left a piece of her with everyone and I believe she left a big piece of her with you.” Finn rested his head against Poe’s as they swayed and smiled. “She cared about you like a son.”

Poe found himself tearing up at Finn’s words. “I know,” he whispered. It was painful to feel her gone but it felt good to finally grieve. It was like a weight was melting off of his tired shoulders and slipping to the floor. “I know.” He could leave that burden on Hoth. Leia wouldn’t want him to carry it around with him anyway.

They danced in the entryway of the abandoned outpost, soon to be  _ reabandoned _ , for a while. Even when they heard the sound of a ship breaking through the atmosphere, they danced. Even when they heard the landing gear touch down outside of the building, they danced. It wasn’t just a dance. It was more. It was Poe shedding that burden to abandon it on Hoth.

“Hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

Finn and Poe looked up, separating a little. Poe beamed at the sight of their friend. “Rose! You’re here!”

“You didn’t hear the ship land?” She asked, pointing back to where the ship was hiding on the other side of the building. She took in their intimate position and shrugged it off. “Are you guys alright?” she said before whistling and waving her crew over their way. “They’re over here!”

“Yeah. We’re great,” Poe said.

“Ignore him. He needs medical attention,” Finn blurted, shaking his head unimpressed. Before Poe could protest, a small team of medics was smothering him, poking and prodding at his body to check his vitals. Finn laughed fondly as Poe was taken away to the ship and trying to bat away those pesky medics.

“So…” Rose smiled at Finn knowingly. “You and Poe, huh?”

Finn shoved at Rose playfully and they started walking towards the ship slowly. He chuckled to himself and shook his head. “Yeah. I guess we had it coming.”

“Did you have a good time?” Rose asked. “Just the two of you… all alone… no Resistance-”

“After Poe’s head stopped bleeding and his fever broke, we had a good time. The first few days were pretty terrifying. I’m glad those days are long gone,” Finn explained as they approached the entryway of the ship. Poe was sitting on a bench being tended to by a few medics.

Rose closed the door to the transport and eyed Poe. “He must’ve hit his head pretty hard then,” she said, furrowing her brows in what looked to be sympathy. She looked at Finn. “What about you? Did you get hurt?”

Finn sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “You know, no blood but it was a rough landing. And the other day I fell off the roof adjusting the antenna. Hurt my back pretty bad…” he trailed off, watching as Poe batted at a medic coming at him with a pair of sutures. “What about you? How have you guys managed without us?”

Rose’s grimace morphed into a smile. “We’ve been great! We were devastated when we thought you guys were dead but we managed alright without you. So if you need some time to recover-”

“Thanks,” Finn said abruptly.

Rose froze for a second, shocked Finn was so quick to reply. “Okay. So I guess I’ll set the ship coordinates to take us back to base-”

“Actually, you can drop Poe and I off at Yavin 4. I think his recovery will go much better there. Too much action around the base. He’d get tempted to join in on it,” Finn explained.

Rose nodded. “You make a good point.” She knew how Poe was. Everyone did. “Yavin 4 it is.”

“Is that a good idea?” Finn asked, suddenly unsure. “I mean… for me to go with him? Or as General should I-”

“Finn, you both need some rest and recovery time,” she said, placing a hand on his shoulder. She glanced over at Poe who was spouting obscenities at the medics for all their poking and prodding. She chuckled and looked back at Finn. “Besides, you’ve had your hands full the last two weeks, haven’t you? Maybe it’ll be nice to share some of that responsibility with Poe’s family. I bet you could even get a few pointers from them.”

Finn nodded. She had a good point but… “I just don’t want to leave you guys…” He trailed off.

“What? Leave us defenseless? Come on. This is the Resistance we’re talking about,” Rose said, laughter in her voice. “We lead the battle against the Final Order, remember?”

Finn smiled. He could still remember their very brief exchanges before and during the battle. As quick as they were, they were enough to remind him to keep going, to remind him he wasn’t alone. They were all fighting the same battle. “I do,” Finn said, squeezing her shoulder with a nod. “But I’ll only feel okay doing this if you promise to keep me up to date. If you need anything-”

“Call you,” she finished for him. Rose’s smile reached her eyes before she hugged Finn warmly. “It’s good to have you back, General.”

“You too, Rose,” Finn replied. They exchanged one more smile and nod before Rose left him in the cargo hold to go pilot the ship to Yavin 4. Poe’s protests finally got to Finn and he approached the medics. “Hey, watch the hair, alright? He doesn’t like that.”

Finn sat next to Poe, answering one of the medics’ questions about his injury. He and Poe argued a bit about the responses Finn gave. Poe was really playing it down for someone who said he wanted to go back home to recover. Perhaps he was trying to put on a tough face since he was the General. Ultimately, he was ordered to take it easy for a few more weeks.

“Rose is dropping us off on Yavin 4,” Finn told Poe once the medics were finally done cleaning the wound on his head and dressing it properly.

Poe’s face scrunched up and made Finn laugh. “You already talked to her?”

“We made a deal, remember?” Finn put a hand on Poe’s knee, watching fondly as the look on his face softened. He remembered. “Besides, I need to meet your dad, don’t I?” He chuckled when Poe’s eyes widened, clearly thinking about what they’d talked about the day before. Had Finn taken what he said too seriously? “He can probably give me some good advice.”

Poe huffed, smiling fondly at Finn. “Advice about what?”

“You.” Finn put an arm around Poe’s shoulder and kissed his forehead. “ _ Princess _ .”

_ “General.” _

**Author's Note:**

> So I have something in the works as a bonus for this sort of building off their deal to go to Yavin and recover. Hopefully school doesn't get in the way of that getting done.
> 
> Thanks for reading this work!


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